Newsgroup: it.politica.internazionale
Titolo: Yes, Israel's a democracy

http://www.latimes.com/news/opinion/opinionla/la-oew-dayan-20100527,0,4680781.story
Jacob Dayan
8:45 AM PDT, May 27, 2010
The Jewish state of Israel is a diverse nation that has absorbed people 
from more than 140 countries. Among its population are about 1.5 million 
Arabs, including Israeli Knesset member Ahmad Tibi, who in a May 23 
Times interview lashed out at Israel, using inflammatory words like 
"racist" and "fascist." As is his style, Tibi failed to back up his 
white-hot rhetoric with hard facts.
In 1947, Arab leaders rejected a United Nations resolution to form an 
Arab state alongside a Jewish one. This caused the displacement of some 
600,000 Palestinian refugees. From that point forward, Arab nations have 
denied these Palestinians and their descendants citizenship and basic 
civil rights, including the right to own property, get an education or 
take out loans — rights held by Israeli Arabs.
Arab Israelis, who make up about 20% of the nation's population, enjoy 
equal rights, government representation and protection in Israel. They 
live freely in all parts of Israel, can use all public facilities, 
attend Israel's top universities and are contributing members of 
society. By no means is Israel the epitome of perfection, but we do 
aspire for equality for all our citizens. According to the Abraham Fund 
Initiative, since Israel's establishment in 1948, the number of schools 
in the Arab Israeli school system increased by more than fifteenfold; 
Hebrew schools grew by only five times. The number of classes offered in 
the Arab Israeli system increased more than seventeenfold, and since 
1961 the literacy rate of Arab Israelis jumped from 49.6% to 90%, a 
clear indication of the educational opportunities offered to all our 
citizens.
Not only are Arabs treated equally as individual citizens, but their 
minority status is also recognized in some aspects by the government, 
with Arabic being an official language in Israel (alongside Hebrew) and 
Israeli Muslims having their own jurisdiction on religious issues 
(Sharia law) pertaining to members of their community, just like Jewish 
religious law at the Rabbinical courts. Additionally, Arab Israelis are 
citizens with full voting rights and can serve as elected members of the 
Knesset, as lawmaker Tibi does. It is true that Arab Israelis hold about 
10% of the Knesset seats, a number that is disproportionate to their 
population. Perhaps this is because Arab Israelis are opting instead to 
vote for non-Arab parties or exercising their democratic right not to 
vote at all.
In his interview, Tibi made it clear that he has no intention of serving 
as a bridge between Israeli Arabs, Palestinians and Israeli Jews. But he 
also made it clear that he would never give up his Israeli citizenship 
or passport for a future Palestinian identity. And why would he? Would a 
Palestinian parliament allow a member to travel freely to an enemy 
state, such as the Arab Knesset members' recent public visit to Libya? 
Would a Palestinian parliament allow one of its members to serve as an 
adviser to a hostile government? For those who may not know, Tibi served 
as Yasser Arafat's adviser on Israeli affairs while simultaneously 
serving as a member of the Knesset.
Tibi knows that no Arab country would afford him the freedoms that the 
Jewish state does. After all, Arab Knesset members are even allowed to 
travel to Gaza, which is controlled by Hamas, the terrorist organization 
that vows to exterminate the Jewish state. Israeli Arab lawmakers travel 
there to express their support, then return to their Knesset offices to 
make their case to Israeli and international media. Is any such freedom 
available in the Arab world? Of course not! Tibi knows this; he relies 
on such freedoms to do his work.
Finally, allow me to reference Ishmael Khaldi who was — until recently — 
Israel's deputy consul general in San Francisco. Khaldi is a Bedouin who 
now serves as an adviser to Israeli Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman; 
he will visit Los Angeles in June to speak about his personal 
experiences. Below is an excerpt from what he said in a San Francisco 
Chronicle interview in March 2009:
"I am a proud Israeli — along with many other non-Jewish Israelis such 
as Druze, Baha'i, Bedouin, Christians and Muslims, who live in one of 
the most culturally diversified societies and the only true democracy in 
the Middle East…. By any yardstick you choose — educational opportunity, 
economic development, women and gay's rights, freedom of speech and 
assembly, legislative representation — Israel's minorities fare far 
better than any other country in the Middle East."
I may not agree with Tibi's comments, but I do recognize the importance 
of his right to express his opinions. The freedom of expression, granted 
to Tibi by the only democratic state in the Middle East, is one that is 
also enjoyed by all Israeli citizens — Jews and Arabs alike.

 from more than 140 countries.
tutti ebrei. GAC