Word: arabism
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Dates: during 1970-1979
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...rolling hills of the Israeli-occupied West Bank, cheered and sang as their distinguished guest presented a Torah scroll for the settlement's new synagogue. For others, though, these were chilling words in a chilling context. The speaker was Menachem Begin, 63, onetime leader of the anti-British, anti-Arab terrorist group known as Irgun Zvai Leumi (National Military Organization), who almost certainly will be Israel's next Premier. In a stunning upset victory, Begin's Likud (Unity) coalition last week became the dominant bloc in Israel's parliament, replacing a shattered, scandal-ridden Labor alignment that had governed...
...Carter Administration's "worst case" scenario is that a Begin government would mean not just a postponement of Geneva but a substantially escalated possibility of renewed war in the Middle East. The initial Arab reactions reflected both anger at the victory of a man whom Damascus radio called "a racist and a terrorist" and some caution. The Cairo daily al-Akhbar argued that it really did not matter who headed the Jerusalem government since "the liberation of occupied Arab lands is not dependent on who will come to power in Israel but on Arab solidarity and insistence on the realization...
...sister, has been either blown up or, in more recent years, sealed up. Last year seven houses were cemented shut in this fashion. Sometimes curfews are imposed on whole towns for the offenses of a few. In retaliation for mass demonstrations and rock throwing by a group of angry Arab youths last year, the entire city of Ramallah (pop. 20,000) was shut down for eleven days. Its citizens were allowed out of their houses for only one to three hours...
...more serious Arab charge is that arrested suspects are maltreated and even tortured. Israel admits to holding more than 2,000 Palestinians as security risks?in overcrowded prisons where ten or more people are jammed into cells measuring 13 ft. by 13 ft. and kept there for 23 hours a day. Jewish prisoners normally have beds to sleep on; Arab prisoners have only mats. When asked why this was so, one prison official explained that the Arabs would use the metal to make weapons. Last winter more than 200 Arab prisoners at Ashkelon went on a hunger strike to protest...
Both authors chronicle the gradual, and still very partial, relaxation of government policy towards the Arabs. However, it is very clear that even a positive official position--if such were to be initiated--could not alleviate the problem completely. The Jewish population's attitudes remain hostile and suspicious, and social interaction between Jews and Arabs is infrequent. Clearly, normalization of relations is linked to a wider Middle East solution--but even if that is not forthcoming, there is much that the Israeli government and populace can do within Israel to defuse the threat of a hostile, unified Arab minority...