Strategies of Minority Struggle for Equality in Ethnic States: Arab Politics in Israel

Abstract

This paper challenges existing theories of radicalization and secession that are presented as “natural” tendencies of minority nationalism. It demonstrates the affinity between the strategies of national minorities and those of social movements, claiming that excluded minorities seek to reframe and expand the meaning of their citizenship, as do social movements, by utilizing the structures of opportunities available to them through citizenship and by mobilizing whatever resources possible to improve their status. Minorities utilize the opportunities embedded in their citizenship, despite its shortcomings, before ever moving to alternative strategies that may jeopardize the valued incentives that were achieved so far as citizens. The paper demonstrates its theoretical hypothesis by examining the changes taking place in the strategy adopted by the Arab minority in Israel. This minority has chosen to abandon accommodative politics and is adopting a more active and challenging strategy vis-à-vis the state. In contrast with common claims that conceive Arab politics as a tendency towards strategies of radicalization and confrontation with the state, this paper demonstrates that recent changes in Arab politics seek to expand the meaning of citizenship beyond liberal limits and adapt it to new conditions in order to meet the minority's expectations of full and equal citizenship.

Notes

¹ This view is best expressed by Benny Morris in an interview with Ari Shavit in Haaretz Magazine, 8 January 2004.

² This was the case with the Scots and Welsh in Great Britain, the majority of the Basques in Spain, the Québecois in Canada, the Maori in New Zealand and the Indigenous peoples in many South American states. See Kymlicka & Norman (2000).

³ Israeli Central Bureau of Statistics. Statisilite, no. 50, available at www.cbs.gov.il/statistical/arab_pop03e.pdf.

⁴ Smooha (2005, p. 83).

⁵ These demands appear on the platform of the three Arab parties represented in the Knesset (Hadash, National Democratic Assembly and United Arab List). For more details see the website of the Knesset: www.knesset.gov.il.

⁶ Smooha (2005, p. 89).

⁷ See the efforts made by Adalah and Mosawa on their websites: www.adalah.org and www.mosawa.org.

⁸ HCJ 6698/95, Qa'adan et al. v. Israel Lands Administration et al., March 2000.

⁹ www.adalah.org.

¹⁰ www.mosawa.org.

¹¹ Smooha (2005, p. 89).

¹² Public opinion polls conducted by Mada Al-Carmel, an Arab research institute based in Haifa, demonstrate clearly that Arab citizens are not satisfied with their current civil status. For more details see: www.mada-research.org.

¹³ The 17th Convention of the Communist Party, a publication of the Israeli Communist Party.

¹⁴ Bishara, who grew up within the Communist party, abandoned the party in 1989 as a result of personal and ideological controversies with its leadership. He established the Democratic National Assembly later and turned the topic of cultural autonomy into a central goal of its platform.

¹⁵ Al-Arabi newspaper, 26 January 1990.

¹⁶ In the 2003 elections to the Knesset 38% of eligible Arab voters did not participate in the elections. In a public opinion poll conducted by Mada Al-Carmel, Arab Center for Applied Social Research, after the elections found that 9% of the non-voters abstained for ideological reasons, 35% for protest reasons, 20% for indifference and 36%occasional abstention related to disability, sickness or similar reasons. For more details see: Saabneh (2004, p. 15).

¹⁷ Prominent among these academics is Dr. As'ad Ghanem from Haifa University.

¹⁸ Smooha (2005, p. 19).