Background

Institutionalized discrimination
Trends of Intolerance inside Israel
Discrimination in the Educational Sector
Discriminatory legal structure
Willful discrimination against Palestinians:
Academic support for violence

11. Palestinians in Israel

Palestinian children dance at a summer camp held in the destroyed village of Iqrit, in Israel

11.1 Background
Palestinian citizens of Israel are those Palestinians who remained behind in what became the
state of Israel following the Nakba (1947-9), or "catastrophe," when approximately 750,000
Palestinians were expelled from their homes and land by Zionist forces in order to make way for
a Jewish-majority state.
Between 1948 (when Israel declared independence) and 1966, Palestinians living in Israel
were granted no political rights and were subject to Israeli military rule. After 1966, they
were granted the right to vote and other civil rights, but to this day they continue to suffer
from widespread, systematic and institutionalized discrimination affecting everything from
land ownership and employment opportunities to family reunification rights. Today, there are
approximately 1.2 million Palestinian citizens of Israel, about 20% of the population.

11.2 Institutionalized discrimination

There are more than 30 laws that discriminate against Palestinian citizens of Israel. directly
or indirectly, based solely on their ethnicity, rendering them second or third class citizens
in their own homeland. 1
93% of the land in Israel is owned either by the state or by quasi-governmental agencies,
such as the Jewish National Fund, that discriminate against non-Jews. Palestinian citizens
of Israel face significant legal obstacles in gaining access to this land for agriculture,
residence, or commercial development. 2
More than seventy Palestinian villages and communities in Israel, some of which pre-date
the establishment of the state, are unrecognized by the government, receive no services,
and are not even listed on official maps. Many other towns with a majority Palestinian
population lack basic services and receive significantly less government funding than do
majority-Jewish towns.
1 See

Adalah: http://www.adalah.org/upfiles/2011/Adalah_The_Inequality_Report_March_2011.pdf
http://www.forward.com/articles/2854/

2 See:

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56

Since Israels founding in 1948, more than 600 Jewish municipalities have been established,
while not a single new Arab town or community has been recognized by the state.
Israeli government resources are disproportionately directed to Jews and not to Arabs, one
factor in causing the Palestinians of Israel to suffer the lowest living standards in Israeli
society by all socio-economic indicators.
Government funding for Arab schools is far below that of Jewish schools. According to
data published in 2004, the government provides three times as much funding to Jewish
students than it does to Arab students. 3
According to the 2009 US State Department International Religious Freedom Report,
Many of the national and municipal policies in Jerusalem were designed to limit or
diminish the non-Jewish population of Jerusalem. 4
The Nationality and Entry into Israel Law prevents Palestinians from the occupied territories who are married to Palestinian citizens of Israel from gaining residency or citizenship
status. The law forces thousands of Palestinian citizens of Israel to either leave Israel or
live apart from their families. 5
In October 2010, the Knesset approved a bill allowing smaller Israeli towns to reject
residents who do not suit "the communitys fundamental outlook", based on sex, religion,
and socioeconomic status. Critics slammed the move as an attempt to allow Jewish towns
to keep Arabs and other non-Jews out. 6
The so-called "Nakba Bill" bans state funding for groups that commemorate the tragedy
that befell Palestinians during Israels creation in 1948, when approx. 750,000 Palestinian
Arabs were ethnically cleansed to make way for a Jewish majority state. 7
The British Mandate-era Land (Acquisition for Public Purposes) Ordinance law allows
the Finance Minster to confiscate land for "public purposes. The state has used this law
extensively, in conjunction with other laws such as the Land Acquisition Law and the
Absentees Property Law, to confiscate Palestinian land in Israel. A new amendment,
which was adopted in February 2010, confirms state ownership of land confiscated under
this law, even where it has not been used to serve the original confiscation purpose. The
amendment was designed to prevent Arab citizens from submitting lawsuits to reclaim
confiscated land.
Over the entirety of its 63-year existence, there has been a period of only about one year
(1966-1967) that Israel did not rule over large numbers of Palestinians to whom it granted
no political rights.
Former Israeli prime ministers Ehud Barak and Ehud Olmert have both warned that a
continuation of the occupation will lead to Israel becoming an "apartheid" state. Barak
stated: "As long as in this territory west of the Jordan river there is only one political
entity called Israel it is going to be either non-Jewish, or non-democratic. . . If this bloc of
millions of Palestinians cannot vote, that will be an apartheid state."
Archbishop Desmond Tutu and Nelson Mandela, heroes of the struggle against apartheid
in South Africa, have both compared Israels treatment of Palestinians to apartheid.
Today, there is a virtual caste system within the territories that Israel controls between the
Jordan River and Mediterranean Sea, with Israeli Jews at the top and Muslim and Christian
Palestinians in the occupied territories at the bottom. In between are Palestinians with
Israeli citizenship and Palestinian residents of occupied East Jerusalem.
3 See:

http://www.adalah.org/upfiles/2011/Adalah_The_Inequality_Report_March_2011.pdf
the report: http://www.state.gov/g/drl/rls/irf/2009/127349.htm
5 See Adalah: http://www.adalah.org/eng/famunif.php
6 See Haaretz: http://www.haaretz.com/news/national/knesset-panel-approves-controversial-bill-allowing-townsto-reject-residents-1.321433
7 See: http://972mag.com/nakba-law-inside-pandoras-box/
4 See

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57

During Operation Protective Edge, an Israeli Professor who expressed sympathy for
Palestinians and Israelis was the target of intense national criticism and was publicly
rebuked by his university.8
Also during Operation Protective Edge, Right wing citizens created lists of leftists who
post criticism of the war on their social media accounts and launched a coordinated effort
to get them fired from their jobs.9
Similarly, many workplaces disciplined or fired Palestinian citizens of Israel who spoke
out against the war.10

11.3 Trends of Intolerance inside Israel

In September 2011 a survey found that a third of Israeli Jews dont consider Arab citizens
to be real Israelis. 11
According to a February 2011 survey, 52% of Israeli Jews would be willing to limit press
freedoms to protect the states image, while 55% would accept limits on the right to oppose
the governments "defense policy. 12
A poll done by the Israel Democracy Institute and released in January 2011 found that
nearly half of Israeli Jews dont want to live next door to an Arab. 13
In November 2010 the chief rabbi of the town of Safed, Shmuel Eliyahu, issued a ruling
forbidding Jews from renting property to Arabs. Eliyahu had previously advocated hanging
the children of terrorists.
In December 2010, dozens of municipal chief rabbis on the government payroll signed a
letter supporting Eliyahu and his decree prohibiting Jews from renting property to nonJews. One of the signatories, Rabbi Yosef Scheinen, head of the Ashdod Yeshiva (religious
school), stated, "Racism originated in the Torah. . . The land of Israel is designated for the
people of Israel." 14
In December 2010, the wives of 30 prominent rabbis signed an open letter calling on
Jewish women not to date or work with Arabs. The letter stated: "For your sake, for the
sake of future generations, and so you dont undergo horrible suffering, we turn to you
with a request, a plea, a prayer. Dont date non-Jews, dont work at places that non-Jews
frequent, and dont do national service with non-Jews. 15
According to a September 2010 poll, half of Israeli Jewish students dont want Arabs in
their classrooms, while an earlier survey found about the same number oppose equal rights
for Arabs. 16
In August 2010, Rabbi Yitzhak Shapira, head of a state-funded religious school in the
West Bank settlement of Yitzhar, published a book that condoned the murder of nonJewish children on the grounds that they may grow up to pose a threat to the state, writing
that non-Jews are "uncompassionate by nature" and attacks against them "curb their evil
8 See:

http://www.haaretz.com/news/national/.premium-1.607888
http://www.haaretz.co.il/captain/net/.premium-1.2388411
10 See: http://www.haaretz.com/news/national/1.606681
11 See: http://www.jta.org/news/article/2011/09/25/3089580/study-one-third-of-jewish-israelis-say-arab-citizensarent-israelis
12 See: http://www.haaretz.com/print-edition/news/poll-most-israeli-jews-willing-to-limit-media-freedom-1.340461
13 See the LA Times: http://articles.latimes.com/2011/jan/23/world/la-fg-israel-intolerance-20110123
14 See Haaretz: http://www.haaretz.com/news/national/top-rabbis-move-to-forbid-renting-homes-to-arabs-sayisrael-belongs-to-jews-1.329327
15 See Haaretz: http://www.haaretz.com/news/national/rabbis-wives-urge-israeli-women-stay-away-from-arabmen-1.333841
16 See Haaretz: http://www.haaretz.com/news/national/poll-half-of-israeli-teens-don-t-want-arab-students-in-theirclass-1.312479
9 See:

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inclination. Several other prominent rabbis subsequently endorsed the book.

In July, 2009, Israels Housing Minister, Ariel Atlas, warned against the "spread" of Israels
Arab population and said that Arabs and Jews shouldnt live together, stating: "if we go
on like we have until now, we will lose the Galilee. Populations that should not mix are
spreading there. I dont think that it is appropriate for [Jews and Arabs] to live together."
In the aftermath of Operation Cast Lead, Israels devastating three-week military assault
against Gaza that killed more than 1300 Palestinians in the winter of 2008-9, the Israeli
daily Haaretz reported that Israeli army units had been printing t-shirts depicting disturbing, violent images such as dead Palestinian babies, Palestinian mothers weeping
on their childrens graves, a gun aimed at a child, bombed-out mosques, and a pregnant
Palestinian woman with a target superimposed on her belly and the caption, 1 shot, 2
kills. Another showed a Palestinian baby, growing into a boy and then an armed adult,
with the inscription, No matter how it begins, well put an end to it." 17
During Operation Protective Edge a number of examples of incitement to violence, hate
crimes, and instances of mob violence against Palestinian citizens of Israel were reported.18

11.4 Discrimination in the Educational Sector

Although the Israeli university system is embedded in a state structure which discriminates
against its Palestinian minority, these universities also take independent actions which reinforce
the systematic discrimination against the Palestinian minority in Israel.
11.4.1 Discriminatory legal structure
State policies of inequality are applied to universities, which also makes them sectors of discrimination. For example, the Absorption of Discharged Soldiers Law gives former soldiers
extensive benefit packages including tuition subsidies, free and preferential access to housing,
etc, on the basis of military service or residency in a priority area. Because Palestinian citizens
of Israel do not serve in the military, these types of laws appear facially neutral but their impact
is discriminatory in effect.
In a similar manner, when the Israeli government violates international law by building
in occupied territory, Israeli universities comply by expanding services to these areas. Israeli
universities, like Hebrew University, have illegally built parts of their campuses in the occupied
territories.19 Ariel University is entirely built in the illegal settlement of Ariel, deep inside the
Occupied West Bank.

11.4.2 Willful discrimination against Palestinians:

20% of the Israeli population is Palestinian, yet only 11% of university students are
Palestinian.20
Palestinian applicants to Israeli universities are three times more likely to be rejected than
Jewish applicants. 32% of Jewish applicants meeting minimal requirements are accepted
17 See:

http://www.miftah.org/PrinterF.cfm?DocId=19166
http://972mag.com/how-freedom-of-speech-was-crushed-during-protective-edge/96179/
and
http://imeu.org/article/israeli-incitement-fueling-intolerance-hate-crimes
19 See: http://www.usacbi.org/2013/09/do-not-apply-open-letter-campaign-to-boycott-hebrew-university/
20 See:
http://www.haaretz.com/news/national/israel-to-launch-campaign-to-attract-more-arab-students-touniversities.premium-1.471184(In the US, by contrast, which is no picnic for African Americans, the Black
population is 13.1%, while the Black student population in universities is 14%.)
18 See

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59

into Israeli universities, while only 19% of Palestinian students meeting those requirements
are accepted.21
Recently, the Carmel Academic Center in Haifa closed its accounting major because, as
one of its leaders was recorded saying, there were too many Arabs enrolling.22
In 2007, Tel Aviv Universitys medical school created high age restrictions for student
enrollment, which does not affect Jewish students who spend the intervening time doing
required military service, but which bans Palestinians students who do not serve in the
army from enrolling. Instead, they are forced to either waste the intervening years, or go
abroad for medical school.23
Lastly, the Israeli Ministry of Health excludes Palestinian graduates from Al-Quds university medical school by ruling that they are neither Israeli, nor foreign, and therefore do not
fit any of the categories of candidates who can sit for the qualifying exam.24
Haifa University conditioned living in the dorms on military service, and was allowed to
despite the clear disparate impact this has on Palestinian students.25
Haifa University banning of the Palestinian flag at protests26 and the widespread silencing
of Palestinian student protests during Cast Lead (for security reasons).27

In most of the admissions cases listed above, the university uses military service as a proxy
for race, creating a disparate impact that effectively excludes Palestinians without openly saying
so. This system of exclusion applies to Palestinians living under occupation as well, but is
performed in a more blatant manner. In addition to the more publicized ways that the Israeli
state denies access to education to Palestinians (roadblocks, denials of permits, etc), the Israeli
university system is also engaged in blatant exclusion of Palestinian students. Although they
have protested it, the universities currently allow the military to apply non-security criteria to
screen Palestinian applicants to Israeli universities. Undergraduates are totally excluded, and
only masters and PHD students can apply. Even after that, they can only be admitted under
extremely narrow circumstances.28
11.4.3 Academic support for violence
Technion university provides military research and testing used to produce army equipment
known to be used in violations of human rights and international law.29
Tel Aviv Universitys Institute for National Security Studies developed the military strategy
known as the Dahiya Doctrine.30 This military strategy calls for the wholesale flattening
of a neighborhood as a message to the other side (a willful example of collective
punishment and targeting of civilians). Dahiya refers to a neighborhood in Lebanon that
was subjected to this strategy in 2006.
21 See:

http://electronicintifada.net/content/palestinian-students-surrounded-guns-israeli-universities/12215
http://www.usacbi.org/2009/06/the-carmel-academic-center-in-haifa-closes-academic-track-as-too-manypalestinian-students-registered/
23 See:
http://electronicintifada.net/content/israeli-universitys-age-restrictions-discriminates-against-arabstudents/3169
24 See: http://www.haaretz.com/news/national/palestinian-medical-school-grads-protest-exclusion-from-israelihospitals.premium-1.526920
25 See: http://www.haaretz.com/news/court-allows-haifa-university-to-continue-contentious-dorm-policy-1.217810
26 See: http://www.jpost.com/National-News/University-bans-Arab-students-from-waving-Palestinian-flag-duringprotests-333446
27 See: http://electronicintifada.net/content/israels-repression-palestinian-students-reached-new-level-during-gazaattack/11948
28 See: http://mondoweiss.net/2009/05/palestinian-students-have-to-pass-admissions-process-and-military-screento-study-in-israel.html
29 See: http://nyact.net/links/about-the-technion/
30 See: http://electronicintifada.net/content/israels-dahiya-doctrine-comes-gaza/8006
22 See:

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Israeli academics have provided advice to the government about how to preserve high
proportions of Jewish citizens relative to Palestinians inside Israel. The exemplar of this
work is Arnon Sofer, an academic who also advised the state on the route of the apartheid
wall.
This blatant support for occupation is paralleled by widespread silence over injustices
committed against Palestinians. In 2008, activist scholars sent a petition for academic
freedom in the occupied territories to 9,000 fellow Israeli academics. It was signed by
only 4.5% of professors, 407 in total.31
During Cast Lead, an Israeli university, IDC Herzliya, went so far as to set up a war
room to produce and send propaganda in support of the assault.32
During Operation Protective Edge, Tel Aviv University issued statements of support for
the army and waived tuition costs for soldiers.33 Similarly, Hebrew University declared
it was joining the war effort" and asked individuals to donate to a scholarship fund for
soldiers serving in the attacks on Gaza.34

31 See:

http://academic-access.weebly.com/
http://bit.ly/1AP6OA5
33 See: http://electronicintifada.net/blogs/ali-abunimah/israeli-universities-lend-support-gaza-massacre
34 See: http://electronicintifada.net/blogs/ali-abunimah/israeli-universities-lend-support-gaza-massacre
32 See: