2023-11-18 04:40:33
In Israel’s mixed cities, the Hamas massacre on October 7 and the IDF’s violent response in Gaza put cohabitation between Jews and Arabs, already fragile, in danger.
It had not reopened since the October 7 attack. On a vacant lot, customers wander timidly between the stalls of the Ramle market. The bazaar usually sets up every Wednesday, “but the municipality had banned traders from coming since the beginning of October for security reasons“, says Moshe, wearing a yarmulke, as he places a pair of shoes on a table.
A group of veiled women examines the merchandise, the situation is calm. “For now, everything is fine,” says Layan, a Palestinian-Israeli resident of the city, shyly. The salesman, Moshe, agrees, “There’s no problem. Look, Jews, Arabs, we’re talking to each other! We’re used to living together here.”
A fragile calm
“Twenty-five shekels for six pitas!” A few meters away, Firas unloads his bread van, “let’s speak in Arabic,” he said as he walked away, seeming to distrust the Jewish Israeli translator, “It can be okay. God willing, we will overcome this ordeal. But the situation is difficult.” In front of Firas’ stall, Ariel scans the passing customers, “I don’t trust the Arabs. I prefer not to talk to them“, says this Jewish Israeli resident of Ramle, looking bitter, “I have a few Arab friends. But following what happened, I’m wary of them.”
On the surface, the market brings together Jewish and Arab communities without difficulty. The town is popular, the low prices of the souq (in Arabic), or shouk (in Hebrew), attract modest families of all faiths. But looks are suspicious, the sellers look away, the customers hurry from one stand to another. A heavy climate inhabits the place. This town located in the center of Israel is a mixed city, home to a majority of Israeli Jews, more than 70%, and a third of Palestinian citizens of Israel. If links exist between the two communities, they are mainly established through work or studies. Relations are tense.
HAS Lod, neighboring town of Ramle, same heavy floating in the air, like a feeling that the town might explode at any moment. The locality contains on its side 60% Jewish Israelis, and 40% Palestinians in Israel, Muslims and Christians. The latter largely inhabit the old town. The rest of the population lives mainly in the outer districts, in more modern buildings. Arabs favor areas with an Arab majority, Jews live more with Jews.
After the attack on October 7 and with the ongoing Israeli offensive in Gaza, the fear of a conflagration has spread. In Lod as in Ramle, everyone remembers the episode of May 2021, during the last war in Gaza, when clashes broke out between Israeli Jews and Arabs.
“The events of May 2021 taught local residents that violence is not the solution.”
“No one wants escalation”
Some civil society actors are nevertheless taking action to prevent further community violence. In the suburbs of Lod, the NGO Abraham Initiatives is developing actions to bring the two communities together. At the reception level, paintings represent two individuals. The one on the left wears a black and white keffiyeh, a symbol of resistance and Palestinian culture. The other wears a Tallit, the Jewish prayer scarf in blue and white colors.
In an office, Khouloud Abu Ahmad, responsible for mixed cities at the NGO, fears a deterioration of relations between the communities, “the pain is very intense on both sides. Nobody wants escalation, because the events of May 2021 taught local residents that violence is not the solution. Nevertheless, the situation of Arab residents in mixed cities is significantly worse than that of Jewish residents. The police are not providing a satisfactory response and the municipalities are not meeting the basic needs of Arab residents. This creates deep resentment that intensifies in times of crisis and can exacerbate tensions.”
Today, between Israeli Jews and Arabs “the pains do not really meet”, affirms Moran Maimoni, director of public affairs at the association, “as a Jew, I am very sensitive to the events of October 7, because they remind us of the Shoah. But the Palestinians in Israel, for their part, have a very strong emotion regarding the Israeli bombings on Gaza.”
“We, the Palestinians in Israel, speak Hebrew. So the rest of the population should speak Arabic to foster ties between the communities.”
Speak each other’s language
Since 1989, the Abraham Initiatives association fights to create bridges between the two communities in Israel. It builds local projects, mainly in mixed cities like Lod, Ramle, Haifa and Jaffa, and strives to influence leaders to pursue a more inclusive policy, according to Dr. Thabet Abu Rass, co-executive director.
“We have launched projects for learning Arabic and Palestinian culture in schools. We, the Palestinians of Israel, speak Hebrew. The rest of the population should therefore speak Arabic to foster links between communities. We also organize meetings between religious and political leaders. We ourselves, at the association, are mixed.”
A bravado that is all the more perilous as the Jewish majority shifts to the right over the years. In December 2022, Jewish supremacists Itamar Ben Gvir (Jewish Force) and Bezalel Smotrich (Religious Zionist Party) entered the Netanyahu government with key ministerial portfolios.
In this context of authoritarian shift, the war in Gaza weighs heavily on the Palestinians of Israelat the risk of damaging Jewish-Arab relations, “the last few weeks are very worrying”, confides Dr. Thabet Abu Rass, “we cannot express ourselves freely, especially Palestinians in Israel. I have family in Gaza. I am not going to applaud the actions of the Israeli army, so I posted a call for a ceasefire on social media. Israeli domestic intelligence (Shin Bet) immediately called me and suspected me of supporting Hamas. We are there. There is no more democracy in Israel.”
©IMAGO/Saeed Qaq
Broken trust
Despite an electric political climate, and fears of an escalation of conflict, the violence has not reached mixed cities “for the moment” according to Dahlia Scheindlin, researcher at the think tank The Century Foundation and author in the daily Haaretz. “Great confusion and a profound loss of confidence are sweeping across the country today. However, we are not in the same situation as in May 2021 in mixed cities, thanks to civil society, which has worked hard to promote cohesion between Jews and Arabs. Perhaps we learned lessons from this violent episode. In my opinion, if it hadn’t been for May 2021, we might be in an extremely brutal situation in mixed cities today.”
Some Israeli political leaders are increasing their bellicose, even racist, statements, like Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Galant, who declared that the Palestinians are “human animals” on October 9. However, the government has also appealed for calm to preserve cohabitation between Jews and Arabs within Israel. The trauma of May 2021 is remembered.
For their part, Israeli Arab leaders, who are on a tightrope, contribute to appeasement in Arab society in Israel. The very popular Arab deputy from the Hadash (communist) party, Ayman Odeh, refused to relay Hamas’ call to join the armed struggle, and he has been extending his hands to Israeli Jewish society since October 7.
“The Arabs didn’t have any empathy for us following the massacre. So no, I don’t really have any empathy for the Palestinians anymore.”
A conflict that will leave its mark
The country is now managing the situation in the short term, with the aim of avoiding any conflagration within Israeli society in the immediate future. But October 7 and the response of the Israeli army in Gaza have already dealt a fatal blow to relations between left-wing Israeli Jews and the Arab population, which will leave traces for a long time.
Rami, 34, a Palestinian from Israel and a doctor living in the mixed city of Jaffa, feels like he has lost his Jewish Israeli friends, “they all call for the total destruction of Gaza. They had never made these speeches before. However, they vote for the radical left. Even in the hospital, which is supposed to be a sanctuary from this kind of talk, I hear horrible things regarding Gaza,” he said, looking pained. “I don’t think I can have the same relationship with them anymore.”
Same observation for Jo, a Jewish Israeli peace activist, who campaigns in the Jewish-Arab organization Women Wage Peace, “October 7 changed me enormously. The Arabs had no empathy for us following the massacre. So no, I don’t really have empathy for the Palestinians anymore.”
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