The ideal situation for David Ben-Gurion and the Israeli authorities would have been to keep as few Palestinians around as possible. But there were barriers, especially at the international level, that made it impossible to expel the entire Palestinian population, to the extent that around , Arabs were living in the State of Israel after Today, two million Palestinian Arabs live in Israel.
This was much talked about during the latest round of fighting because Arabs, who typically have remained calm and composed in the past, publicly voiced their outrage. Even though Jewish fertility in Israel was much higher than fertility among diaspora Jews, it was still a great deal lower than that of Palestinian women. Their fertility rate is down, while that of Jewish Israelis is on the rise, for various reasons.
The Jewish population is starting to win the demographic war with Israeli Arabs. The latest statistics are telling: fertility rates among Jewish women are higher than those of Arab women. Yes, and such concerns have always been voiced, especially by leaders like Yasser Arafat. He spoke for Palestine and for the Palestinian diaspora. He said that Palestinian families should have 12 children; two for the family and 10 for the Palestinian cause.
But Palestinians ended up turning their back on ideology. Do Arabs living in central and northern Israel see Lebanon as a possible alternative? No, Arab emigration out of Israel has been very limited. Moving could mean losing your home. Putting down roots, moving as little as possible and having a high birth rate are qualities that have helped Palestinian citizens of Israel maintain their presence.
Their population has grown by not emigrating. Going forward, Palestinian citizens of Israel will no longer have a fertility advantage over Jewish Israelis, but their rootedness in the country, at a time when many Jews are leaving, is their strength. Some one million Israelis currently live overseas. Some non-religious or secular Jews feel stifled by the oppressively religious, right-wing atmosphere in Israel, while others are concerned about education. Hamas has achieved what it has called for in statement after statement in recent years: unity through hatred.
In the meantime, Israel stands divided, torn by political strife, instability and infighting. Many government officials responded to the situation by calling for stronger force by Israeli security forces. Amid the deep distrust of the government already present in all parts of Israeli society after two years without a stable government, this likely only fanned the flames.
But there are those attempting to lower the flames. Joint Jewish-Arab demonstrations have called for coexistence and peace. Municipal officials from all sectors released joint statements calling for residents to calm the situation and avoid violence.
There are many reasons to hope. But despite the best efforts of activists, city officials and security forces, violence is still ravaging the streets of Israel. So yes, the IDF is registering great achievements in Operation Guardians of the Walls, but meanwhile the house appears to be collapsing from within.
Israel is winning battles for sure, but Hamas seems to be winning the war. In just a week, Hamas succeeded in igniting a civil conflict between Jews and Arabs within Israeli territory and sparking one of the largest conflicts with Gaza in recent years. How does Israel move on? Israel has gone over two years without a stable government. Incitement and sectarianism have plagued Israel for a long time, and this only intensified during the political and coronavirus crises, as all of Israeli society split, and hostile rhetoric from all sides plagued media and politics as officials attempted to garner favor during four rounds of elections.
Hamas saw the situation and used it to its advantage, taking the anger and hurt already simmering across Israeli society and putting it on a high flame. They may have lit the match, but we certainly had the firewood ready. While much of the incitement came from above, the citizens of Israel accepted, justified and helped spread it. It is regular civilians who have gone out in recent days, spread strife and lynched their neighbors.
So, when we look to heal these scars, we cannot just look up: We must also look within. Only the general populace will truly be able to fix the damage this conflict has caused. It will take tremendous efforts by all sides in a Herculean show of unity to bridge the widened gaps. It will demand overcoming extreme fear and distrust. Of course, security forces need to respond to the violence and work intensively to keep the peace, but that must be accompanied with intensive efforts on a civil level to understand how such sectarianism can be combated.
A balanced approach must be found or we will simply perpetuate the cycle of violence and push off the actual issues. This will not happen overnight. Deep wounds have been inflicted in Israeli society this past week that will take months, if not years to heal. Israeli society is perhaps more divided than it ever has been. But the demonstrations of coexistence that popped up despite the chaos and fear show that it can and must be done. Hamas is winning this war— and this time it will take the general populace, not just the IDF, to tilt the scales and win it back.
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