From: "wayne mcguire" <wayne.mcguire@channel1.com>
Newsgroups: talk.politics.mideast
Subject: conversion to judaism
Date: 21 Jan 93 23:32:19 EST
Reply-To: "wayne mcguire" <wayne.mcguire@channel1.com>
Distribution: talk
Organization: Channel 1 Communications

to: Josh Backon

 JB> HUH ????? Utter nonsense !!! If you show me two sets of
 JB> national identity cards of Israeli citizens (two different
 JB> cards), I'll eat my hat ! Kindly show me "two sets" of
 JB> identity cards. Pray tell me Wayne, how do they differ in
 JB> dimension or color ? I assure you Wayne that you couldn't
 JB> tell apart *my* identity card from that of my Arab student
 JB> from Kafr Kari.

Josh,

Is the information concerning Israeli identity cards in the
following article incorrect?

Sheldon L. Richman
'Who is a Jew' Matters in Israel
The Washington Report on Middle East Affairs
March 1990
p. 10

        ....

        Each Israeli must carry an identity card, which has a 
        line indicating "nationality."  One would think that an 
        Israeli citizen would have the word "Israeli" on that 
        line. Not so. The nationality of any Jew is "Jew;" the
        nationality of an Israeli Arab--even one who has lived 
        for decades in, say, Jaffa--is "Arab." In 1970 a Jewish
        human rights activist tried to challenge this practice by 
        asking the Interior Ministry to change his registration 
        to Israeli. It refused and the Supreme Court upheld the
        decision. The court stated that "There is no Israeli
        nation separate from the Jewish people."

        Where does that leave Israelis who are non-Jews or not 
        recognized by the state?  On its face it implies 
        second-class citizenship for someone.

        If the Orthodox rabbis get their way, many people now 
        regarded as Jews will be excluded from full civil rights 
        in Israel. That would be bad.  But what of the people who 
        never have had the same rights as those extended to Jews, 
        namely, the Palestinians living in Israel?

        Israel is a state-socialist country; the government owns 
        much of the economy. Thus, to be a non-Jew has countless
        practical disadvantages. Over 90 percent of the land is
        held by the state. Precious water resources and
        electrical power are controlled by the state. As in any
        socialist country, politicians ultimately decide who gets 
        what.

        Since Israel is a state of, by, and for the Jewish 
        people, the resources primarily benefit Jews.  Arabs are 
        taxed like Jews, but they do not have the same access to 
        resources as Jews. The land held by the state may not be 
        sold or leased to Arabs.  Arab villages and farms do not 
        get the same quality of services--electrical, water, and 
        on and on--as Jewish towns and farms.  Arab farmers in 
        Israel are not free to sell their produce directly to 
        buyers outside the country.  (Only threats of retaliation 
        against Israeli products by the European Community 
        persuaded the authorities to let Arabs in the occupied 
        territories export directly.)

        The Arabs of Israel are like serfs in a socialist state 
        run for the benefit of someone else.  They can have 
        representatives in the Knesset, but they can't change the 
        system.

        It is important to understand the essential relationship 
        between socialism and Israel as it has existed since 
        1948.  Were Israel to adopt free-market capitalism, as 
        some American economists urge, the state's character 
        would change radically.  If all land and industry were 
        privately owned, free trade practiced and the government 
        limited to a neutral referee, the country, by definition, 
        could not discriminate.  Equal rights and the rule of law 
        are hallmarks of capitalism.  There is no second-class 
        citizenship in the free market.  This point is more 
        radical than it may appear at first: Israel's 
        "fundamental laws" are incompatible with the distinctive 
        Western political philosophy and tradition known as 
        classical liberalism.

        Israel can either maintain the status quo, including the 
        socialism that is sinking its economy into an abyss and 
        causing significant emigration, or give up socialism and 
        adopt capitalism, in which case it would no longer 
        discriminate against non-Jews.  Few Israelis want to face 
        this choice.  But, like it or not, the need to choose is 
        something about which they have no choice.
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