Survey, conducted by Dialog on the eve of Rosh Hashanah, exposes anti-Arab, ultra-nationalist views espoused by a majority of Israeli Jews.
Gideon Levy-Haaretz
Most of the Jewish public in Israel supports the establishment of an
apartheid regime in Israel if it formally annexes the West Bank.
A majority also explicitly favors discrimination against the state’s Arab citizens, a survey shows.
The survey, conducted by Dialog on the eve of Rosh Hashanah, exposes
anti-Arab, ultra-nationalist views espoused by a majority of Israeli
Jews. The survey was commissioned by the New Israel Fund’s Yisraela
Goldblum Fund and is based on a sample of 503 interviewees.
The questions were written by a group of academia-based peace and
civil rights activists. Dialog is headed by Tel Aviv University Prof.
Camil Fuchs.
The majority of the Jewish public, 59 percent, wants preference for
Jews over Arabs in admission to jobs in government ministries. Almost
half the Jews, 49 percent, want the state to treat Jewish citizens
better than Arab ones; 42 percent don’t want to live in the same
building with Arabs and 42 percent don’t want their children in the same
class with Arab children.
A third of the Jewish public wants a law barring Israeli Arabs from
voting for the Knesset and a large majority of 69 percent objects to
giving 2.5 million Palestinians the right to vote if Israel annexes the
West Bank.
A sweeping 74 percent majority is in favor of separate roads for
Israelis and Palestinians in the West Bank. A quarter – 24 percent –
believe separate roads are “a good situation” and 50 percent believe
they are “a necessary situation.”
Almost half – 47 percent – want part of Israel’s Arab population to
be transferred to the Palestinian Authority and 36 percent support
transferring some of the Arab towns from Israel to the PA, in exchange
for keeping some of the West Bank settlements.
Although the territories have not been annexed, most of the Jewish
public (58 percent ) already believes Israel practices apartheid against
Arabs. Only 31 percent think such a system is not in force here. Over a
third (38 percent ) of the Jewish public wants Israel to annex the
territories with settlements on them, while 48 percent object.
The survey distinguishes among the various communities in Israeli
society – secular, observant, religious, ultra-Orthodox and former
Soviet immigrants. The ultra-Orthodox, in contrast to those who
described themselves as religious or observant, hold the most extreme
positions against the Palestinians. An overwhelming majority (83 percent
) of Haredim are in favor of segregated roads and 71 percent are in
favor of transfer.
The ultra-Orthodox are also the most anti-Arab group – 70 percent of
them support legally barring Israeli Arabs from voting, 82 percent
support preferential treatment from the state toward Jews, and 95
percent are in favor of discrimination against Arabs in admission to
workplaces.
The group classifying itself as religious is the second most
anti-Arab. New immigrants from former Soviet states are closer in their
views of the Palestinians to secular Israelis, and are far less radical
than the religious and Haredi groups. However, the number of people who
answered “don’t know” in the “Russian” community was higher than in any
other.
The Russians register the highest rate of satisfaction with life in
Israel (77 percent ) and the secular Israelis the lowest – only 63
percent. On average, 69 percent of Israelis are satisfied with life in
Israel.
Secular Israelis appear to be the least racist – 68 percent of them
would not mind having Arab neighbors in their apartment building, 73
percent would not mind Arab students in their children’s class and 50
percent believe Arabs should not be discriminated against in admission
to workplaces.
The survey indicates that a third to half of Jewish Israelis want to
live in a state that practices formal, open discrimination against its
Arab citizens. An even larger majority wants to live in an apartheid
state if Israel annexes the territories.
The survey conductors say perhaps the term “apartheid” was not clear
enough to some interviewees. However, the interviewees did not object
strongly to describing Israel’s character as “apartheid” already today,
without annexing the territories. Only 31 percent objected to calling
Israel an “apartheid state” and said “there’s no apartheid at all.”
In contrast, 39 percent believe apartheid is practiced “in a few
fields”; 19 percent believe “there’s apartheid in many fields” and 11
percent do not know.
The “Russians,” as the survey calls them, display the most objection
to classifying their new country as an apartheid state. A third of them –
35 percent – believe Israel practices no apartheid at all, compared to
28 percent of the secular and ultra-Orthodox communities, 27 percent of
the religious and 30 percent of the observant Jews who hold that view.
Altogether, 58 percent of all the groups believe Israel practices
apartheid “in a few fields” or “in many fields,” while 11 percent don’t
know.
Finally, the interviewees were asked whether “a famous American
author [who] is boycotting Israel, claiming it practices apartheid”
should be boycotted or invited to Israel. About half (48 percent ) said
she should be invited to Israel, 28 percent suggest no response and only
15 percent call to boycott her.
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