Netanyahu says he will only support a replacement to the Tal Law if it includes service for Israeli Arab and Haredi men.
By Jack Khoury | Jul.02, 2012Most Israeli Arabs, including youths who could be affected by a change in the Tal Law, are not feeling a sense of urgency ahead of the government's discussion of that law's replacement.
Prime Minster Benjamin Netanyahu said last week that he would only support the recommendations of the Plesner Committee that is drafting a replacement for the Tal Law if those recommendations apply to all Israelis, including Israel's Arab population. The law, which was declared unconstitutional by the High Court of Justice, exempts yeshiva students from mandatory military or national service.
But an Arab political activist who is fighting a national service obligation for Arabs says that while young Arabs have a general awareness of the public debate over national service, they "are not involved to the point of planning and mobilizing; we're not there." Nada Nasser, a young woman from Arraba, in the Galilee and a member of Baladna: the Association for Arab Youth, which is spearheading the campaign against national service, says that Arab adults also do not seem to be too interested in, or concerned about, the debate over the law.
The official position of the Arab parties opposed to civilian national service, which they feel provides an opening to drafting Arabs, is that it would distort the Palestinian identity of Arab youths and instill a certain, "Israeli-ness" in them. Arab Knesset members boycotted the Plesner Committee's hearings, though they did unofficially meet with both committee members and with Plesner himself, so that they could voice their opinion.
Last week Haaretz reported on a soon-to-be-launched Arab public relations campaign against the Plesner Committee's recommendations, regardless of whether they are for voluntary national service or compulsory service.
Rabia Aghbaria, 19, of Haifa, opposes national service. "Arab youths will not agree to such decisions; no one will consent to the distortion of identity. Sure, there are some youths who are aware of the political ramifications and others who are less aware, but clearly Arab youths will, in the end, fall into line for the most part with the prevailing view in Arab society: against forced national service and the security connection."
A leading opponent of national service for Arabs told Haaretz that the strategy, for now, is to wait for the decision and then react. "We don't want to raise the issue and make dramatic decisions such as calling for a civilian uprising against national service as long as no final decision has been reached in the matter. Clearly [Foreign Minister Avigdor] Lieberman and his people want to raise the issue, present the Arabs in a negative light. We don't want to play into his hands. Obviously there's now a battle going on within the coalition, mainly Mofaz against Lieberman. We don't want to be part of it."
Jamal Majadla, a member of the Baka al-Garbiyeh city council, says if leveraged properly and presented properly, civilian national service could actually be a positive thing for Arab youth. But according to Majadla, the sense is that the government is presenting such service as a requirement in order to anger the Arabs and portray them as rejectionists.
"Cooperation and a fair and positive approach can change the situation and effect a change in the position, and soften the opposition, but the government isn't doing so correctly," says Majadla.
