Opponents of the idea say that before focusing on developing a city of an elitist nature, the existing Arab communities should be developed. The idea of establishing a new, modern Arab city, similar to Modi'in, has come up in several Jewish-Arab planning forums over the last two years. It gained special momentum after the rioting in Umm al Fahm that followed land appropriations there in 1998. Prof. Oren Yiftachel, the head of the geography and environmental development department at Ben-Gurion University, participated in some of those discussions. In Palestinian society in Israel, the rural structure is a hindrance to the development of a political society.
Every society needs urban space where innovations can be created.
Cutting off the urban head of Palestinians who are Israeli citizens is a death blow to their society, and consequently the matter becomes a problem of Israeli society at large. This regime promotes the territorial, economic, political and cultural goals of the dominant ethnic group. The ethnic rules of the game also dictate the class structure. Agents of Judaization Signs of ethnocracy are most clearly visible in the mixed cities. It is apparent not only in the oppression and marginalization of their Arab residents, but also in the use the government makes of new immigrants in these cities as tools of Judaization.