The Tampa Times · Tampa, Florida · 13 October 1976

CP-1976-010

Life not democratic for some in Israel

Arabs within Israel and in the occupied territories complain of second-class citizenship, jailings for political beliefs and terror tactics such as the blowing up of homes.

Andrea Brunais, Times Staff Writer

Transcribed from the clipping

“NEW YORK — Israel is often referred to as the only democracy in the Middle East. But according to prominent Palestinian Arabs living in Israel and on the occupied West Bank of the Jordan, life is anything but democratic for them. Tawfiq Zayyad, the mayor of Nazareth, described a ‘regime of oppression’ under which the Palestinians — even those who are citizens of Israel — live. The leftist mayor-poet said Israeli authorities are carrying out ‘a policy of national discrimination’ by expropriating Arab lands, implementing ‘spiritual and cultural Judaization’ and retarding the development of Arab cities and villages within Israel. Israeli Arabs are labeled ‘non-Jews’ and they study Arabic by listening to lectures in Hebrew, Zayyad said. As for schools, ‘the vast majority of the existing school buildings should be called stables because they are more for animals than human beings.’ Some Palestinian Arabs, like Zayyad, are citizens of Israel who did not leave when the state was created in 1947. Others do not have Israeli passports, such as those who live in the occupied territories, and life for them is no easier under Israeli military rule. Felicia Langer, a Jewish attorney on the West Bank and author of ‘With My Own Eyes,’ has defended many of the Palestinian Arabs arrested by Israeli authorities for crimes ranging from passing out leaflets to giving a glass of water to a demonstrator. ‘There’s nothing lawful in the eyes of the authorities,’ she said. Four thousand Arabs are in jail for political reasons, said Mrs. Langer, who was born in Poland and whose husband survived Buchenwald. In occupied Jerusalem, the West Bank, Gaza and the Golan Heights, more than 19,000 buildings have been destroyed, and with them the myth that the Israelis have brought prosperity to the occupied lands, she said. In the case of some of the Arabs she has represented in court, the homes of their parents were blown up without the parents ever being told why their sons or daughters had been arrested.… Other speakers included Sen. James Abourezk, D-South Dakota; Shafiq el-Hout, director of the Beirut office of the Palestine Liberation Organization; and Clovis Maksoud, a senior editor of Beirut’s al-Nahar… ‘Those of us who understand the forces operating in the area know full well there will be neither peace nor justice in the Middle East if the focus is on the Arab-Israeli issues, and the issue of Palestine is ignored,’ said Elaine Hagopian, president of the Arab-American group and a professor of sociology at Simmons College in Massachusetts. ‘Palestine is and will continue to be the issue.’… Editor Maksoud told the conference, ‘It is not that our enemies plan; it is that we fall into the trap.’ Tomorrow: The Arabs and information.”

Context added by this archive

The second of a three-part series; the first is CP-1976-008, printed the day before, which ends with Tawfiq Zayyad reciting a poem. The photograph on this one is Felicia Langer, captioned only “…19,000 buildings destroyed.” The third part ran on 14 October under the line the paper prints here: The Arabs and information.

Cite this item

"Life not democratic for some in Israel," The Tampa Times, 13 October 1976. Covering Palestine archive, CP-1976-010. https://coveringpalestine.org/archive/cp-1976-010

Elsewhere in the archive

• Arab-American convention hears horror stories from Israeli ArabsThe Tampa Times · 12 October 1976 · the same newspaper
• Plight of four schoolgirls illustrates frustration of West Bank occupationBellingham Herald · 17 March 1976 · the same year
• Arabs Killed In Rioting In IsraelEffingham Daily News · 30 March 1976 · the same year
• Israel Fights ‘Worst Arab Riot’Pittsburgh Press · 30 March 1976 · the same year