israelinsider: Fig leaf or restored dignity?

Ellis Shuman is israelinsider's Senior Editor. Prior to joining the israelinsider team, he served as webmaster for Yazam. Mr. Shuman was trained in the hospitality industry, and worked in many capacities at the Neve Ilan Hotel and at the Jerusalem Hilton. In addition, Mr. Shuman serves as Israeli Culture Guide for About.com. ellis@israelinsider.com

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Fig leaf or restored dignity?
By Ellis Shuman March 6, 2001

Ariel Sharon's recent election can be attributed mainly to an Israeli population unwilling to accept the over-generous and possibly dangerous concessions offered to the Palestinians by outgoing Prime Minister Ehud Barak, and the recent outbreak of Palestinian violence. But Sharon was also elected, in part, by the mass ballot boycott of Israel's Arab citizens, still furious over the deaths of thirteen members of their community in the early days of the Al Aksa Intifada.

The recent deliberations of the Or Commission have begun to throw light on what happened last October. It came as a shock to realize that the fateful shots that killed some of the young Arab demonstrators may have come from guns held by Druze border policemen. But that is not the real issue at stake. The underlying question is what orders were handed down from above, and what means the police had at their disposal to disperse the riots at the time.

The ongoing violence has thrown much attention on Israel's Arab community, and the role they play in the State. In early October their demonstrations displayed solidarity with the Palestinian cause. Was this not something to be expected? Israeli Arabs continue to regard themselves as second-class citizens, and many quite possibly regard themselves first and foremost as Palestinians rather than Israelis. But there is a major difference between them and the Palestinians. They are, after all is said and done, citizens of the State of Israel.

Though they decided to sit out the special elections for Prime Minister, Israeli Arabs are represented in the Knesset. Even so, the elected representation of the Arab minority is a fractious collection of small factions and opposing parties.

Into these troubled times comes some welcome, long-overdue good news. The Labor Party last week selected MK Saleh Tarif to serve as Minister Without Portfolio in the national unity government under Ariel Sharon.

Tarif, a member of Israel's Druze community who served as a paratrooper in the army, and who has served as a Labor Party Knesset member since 1992, will be the first non-Jew to serve as a minister in an Israeli government.

"My mission is very hard, because I have gotten negative reactions from Arabs about joining a coalition with the extremist right," an overjoyed Tarif admitted. "My election is no doubt an important conciliatory message to the Arab population."

MK Azmi Bishara, a Christian Arab of the National Democratic Alliance, charged that Tarif was "nothing but a fig leaf designed to cover up this government's policy under the honorary title of minister without portfolio."

Tarif's appointment comes exactly at the right time, when Israel is reviewing the October events that widened the schism with the Arab and Druze communities. His service in the government position will finally give these elements of the Israeli population their long-deserved dignified representation. Perhaps the appointment will give Israel's minorities a chance to view more positively their role and future in the country.

Tarif also has before him the task of helping balance the right-wing slant of the new government. Just as the Labor Party's mission is to serve as more than just "window dressing" for Sharon's policies, Tarif must ensure that his selection as a minister will not prove to be the "fig leaf" suggested by Bishara and other critics.

Tarif has vowed to work toward more cooperation between the Druze population and the state, achieving peace in the region and turning Israel into a "country of all its citizens." In addition, the minister-elect vowed to go to Gaza and keep open the avenue of discussion with the Palestinian Authority.

Tarif's appointment is an historic choice at a crucial stage in Israel's existence. Hopefully the first Druze minister will live up to expectations and ensure that national unity is a term applied to all elements of Israeli society.