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A Great Miracle
By: Uri Avnery
11/14/05 "ICH
" -- -- NORTH AFRICAN immigrants on the periphery of
French cities are torching them. North African immigrants on the
periphery of Israel this week carried out a democratic revolution in
our country.
In the Labor Party primaries, the members of "Eastern" descent voted
massively for Amir Peretz and defeated Shimon Peres, who enjoyed the
support of the upper class, mostly Ashkenazi, party members.
("Eastern" is the now generally accepted term for Jews from Arab and
other Muslim countries and their descendents, who used to be called,
erroneously, "Sephardim". The "Ashkenazim" are immigrants from
European countries and their descendents, named for the Medieval
Hebrew appellation for Germany.)
A week ago, this column called upon the Labor Party voters to elect
Peretz. "Haaretz" published that article on election day. If it
convinced even one person to change his or her vote, I am glad.
Because the election of Peretz is, in my view, an event that far
transcends party affairs. It may well change the future of the
country.
I REMEMBER a debate that took place shortly after the 1982 Lebanon
war. Some dozens of veterans of the radical Israeli peace movements
gathered on the roof of a Tel-Aviv building and discussed the
possibility of creating a new peace party, after the dissolution of
the Sheli Party (which I had represented for some years in the
Knesset).
I said that we would not succeed in effecting a real change if we
did not reach the Eastern Jewish public. To this community, the
peace camp looks like an Ashkenazi affair, belonging to the upper
socio-economic strata. In our demonstrations, one hardly sees any
Eastern faces. We have failed to reach half the Israeli population.
As long as this situation prevails, there will be no peace.
Since then, 23 years have passed and the situation has not changed.
The masses of the Eastern public have boycotted the whole Israeli
"Left". They particularly loathed the Labor Party, which in their
eyes represented all the bad things: discrimination against the
towns and neighborhoods where the Eastern public is concentrated,
disdain for social values, support for an economic policy that makes
the rich richer. They had special contempt for "ethnic politicians",
seeing them as mercenaries of the Ashkenazi elite.
The peace camp is identified with the "Left". When, once a year, a
hundred thousand people congregate (like this evening) in Tel-Aviv's
Rabin Square to commemorate the slain leader, the Eastern people are
conspicuous by their absence (apart from members of the leftist
youth movements.) Arguments often heard are "You are concerned only
with the Arabs, not with us!" or "Ramallah is more important to you
than Ramleh!" (Ramleh is an Israeli town mainly populated by North
African immigrants.) The whole idea of peace is somehow considered
an elitist, Ashkenazi affair, which does not concern the inhabitants
of the Eastern towns.
There are several reasons for the deep-seated hatred felt by many
Eastern people, even of the second and third generation, for the
Labor Party. One of them is the feeling that North African
immigrants in the 1950s were received in Israel with contempt by the
establishment, which at the time entirely belonged to the Labor
Party. The immigrants were expected to give up their cultural
heritage and traditions in the Israeli "melting pot" that imposed a
western, secular pattern.
From generation to generation, a (true) story was passed on about
the Moroccan immigrants who were driven to a place in the middle of
the desert and told to build a new town for themselves. When they
refused to get out of the truck, its tipping mechanism was activated
and they were literally "poured" out, as if they were a load of
sand. Also, the immigrants felt humiliated when, upon arriving in
the country, their hair was sprayed with DDT. True, the same
happened to immigrants from the European refugee camps, but in the
memory of the Eastern immigrants the insult has left an indelible
mark.
The Eastern people of the second and third generation believed that
the "Left" had created a closed world whose gates were shut to them.
This feeling did not disappear when individuals of Eastern origin
reached high position, entered the office of the President of the
State, became cabinet ministers, professors or successful
entrepreneurs. Statistics show that most of the Eastern people are
to be found in the lower socio-economic classes, that many of them
live below the poverty line and that they are overrepresented in the
prisons. As a result, they voted en masse for Likud, which was also
for a long time "outside" the establishment. Even to this day, the
Likud is perceived as an opposition party - in spite of the fact
that it has already been in power for a long time.
THERE ARE, of course, more profound reasons for the tension between
the Eastern public and the peace camp. Most immigrants from Arab
countries did not arrive as Arab-haters - they became Arab-haters
here.
This is a well-known phenomenon in many countries: the most
discriminated class of the ruling nation provides the most radical
enemies of national minorities and foreigners in general. Those who
are trampled-upon trample those beneath them. After being robbed of
their self-esteem, they can regain some self-respect only by
belonging to a "master race". Thus the poor whites in the United
States. The same in France.
Moreover, the Ashkenazi ruling class openly despises the Arab
manners, diction and music that the Eastern immigrants brought with
them. This overtly racist attitude towards the Arabs became a covert
racist attitude towards the Eastern Jews. These reacted defensively
by adopting an extreme anti-Arab attitude.
In the discussion 23 years ago I said that no one of us Ashkenazis
can effect the necessary change. Only an authentic Eastern leader
can imbue the Eastern community with a new spirit. He can remind
them that for 1400 years, while European Jews saw pogroms, the
Inquisition and the Holocaust, Jews were not persecuted in Muslim
countries and, indeed, for long periods in Spain and elsewhere, were
partners in a marvelous Muslim-Jewish symbiosis. Such a leader can
give back to his community the pride in its past and the ambition to
take up its natural mission of serving as a bridge between the two
peoples.
That did not happen in the years that have passed. It can happen
now.
THE ELECTION of Amir Peretz completely changes the political scene.
For the first time, the Labor party is headed by an authentic
representative of the North African community - not an "ethnic"
politician, but a national leader who is proud of his roots. And
indeed, before the election he declared that "the first thing I
shall do after being elected is to organize a mercy killing for the
Ethnic Demon."
For the first time since 1974, the Labor Party is now headed by a
person who did not grow up in the army or the defense establishment.
His main agenda is social-economic. He puts an end to the abnormal
situation that has prevailed in Israel for a long time, when the
leaders of the "Left" supported an extremely rightist economic
policy. He can put an end to the situation where the huge defense
budget, together with the massive investment on the settlements,
devour the resources needed for reducing the gap between rich and
poor, which is now wider in Israel than in any other developed
country.
From the beginning of his career, Peretz has never wavered in his
consistent support for Israeli-Palestinian peace. His social message
is connected with his peace message, which is as it should be.
All this is not yet a reason for dancing for joy in the streets. We
may be disappointed. Peretz is facing a daunting series of tasks: to
unify his party, to clear away the Peres heritage, to infuse new
blood into the party, to win the next general election, to become
Prime Minister, to introduce a new social policy, to make peace. He
must now prove himself in all of these, phase by phase.
But there is room for optimism. The frozen fronts between the
parties have been broken. It is the beginning of a Peretztroika.
Whole communities can now change their allegiance. A new political
scene can be created, one much more suited to peace-making.
In France, the discriminated North African neighborhoods are going
up in flames. In our country, a member of the discriminated
North-African community has become candidate for Prime Minister. Six
weeks before Hanuka, the Jewish festival with the ancient adage "A
Great Miracle Has Happened Here", we have some reason to be happy.
Uri Avnery, An Israeli author and activist. He is the head of the Israeli peace
movement, "Gush Shalom".
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