LOCALS: Conversations with Arab Citizens in Israel

De: Sarah Ozacky-Lazar, Yoav Stern

Narrado por: Virtual Voice

Twenty percent of Israel’s population are Palestinian Arabs, i.e., those who remained inside Israel’s boundaries following the 1948 war. These people are locals, rooted in their land and communities. They are citizens who are integrated into the state’s economy, politics and culture, but are excluded from “the Nation”. Authors Sarah Ozacky-Lazar and Yoav Stern embarked on a journey intended to get to know their Arab Israel neighbors through their personal life stories, dreams, and hopes for the future. Ozacky-Lazar and Stern found people yearning to be listened to, citizens who reject any suggestion to be separate from the state or their land. Despite the harsh difficulties, it was hard to compete with their optimism. Their life stories create a fascinating mosaic of individual-personal narratives, a kind of oral history, one that does not appear in textbooks. This is not a “representative sample” or an “opinion poll,” but rather, a collection of in-depth conversations with private individuals from different walks of life. For the authors, this journey constitutes a mission. They see the Arab citizens as neighbors and partners, with a fierce desire for mutual respect, trust, and strong affinity. The authors believe with all their hearts that there is a way to reach a common understanding. Regarding their work, Ozacky-Lazar and Stern passionately assert, “This book is another small step in the arduous path toward a better future for all of us, the locals, in our shared homeland.” Here’s a listing of the interviews you will find in “Locals”: 1. We’re building, not playing cards • Hashem Abd Al-Rahman Mahajne, Umm Al-Fahm 2. If only the entire world looked like Neve Shalom • Marwah Jbara Tibi, Taybe/Neve Shalom-Wahat Al-Salam 3. I want to get into the Knesset • Alaa Aghbariya, Umm Al-Fahm/Katzir 4. Designer of Memory • Mustafa Kabha, Umm Al-Kutuf 5. Yes! We got it! • Makhluf Ghanaiem, Baqa Al-Gharbiya 6. Five-star Occupation • Abir Kopty, Nazareth/Ramallah 7. Hebrew, a love story • Ayman Sikseck, Jaffa 8. Tel Avivian Pride • Adeeb Awad, Haifa/Tel Aviv.. 9. I know every corner of Manhattan, but Iksal is my home • Mohammad Darawshe, Iksal 10. Barta’a is an independent state • Laila Kabha, Sufian Kabha, Barta’a 11. I have no idea where I got the strength • Hana Firo, Daliat Al-Carmel 12. The blended ones • Bruria and Faisal Jbeili, Jaffa & Nazareth/Haifa 13. I’m too Arab • Ayman Odeh, Haifa 14. I came to change the world • Odeh Bisharat, Yafi’a 15. I couldn’t hug mother • Mukhles Burghal, Lod 16. Pomegranates & lilies • Attallah Mansour, Jish/Nazareth 17. We are ineligible for marriage • Nawaf Masalha, Kafr Qara 18. The burning match • Mahmoud Kays, Nahaf/Haifa 19. Executive Shari’a — 1948 Track • Ahmad Juma’, Sulam 20. I’m a Muslim Arab and proud to represent the State on the Israeli National soccer team • Mahran Radi, Sulam 21. One of ours, but not one of us • Amir Abu Raya, Sakhnin 22. A wreck of a car • Eid Sarahin Azazmeh, Beer Hadaj 23. Perhaps you’ll try too? • Soraya Fanadka, Kafr Qara 24. Peace provocateur • Sabri Jiryis, Fassuta DR. SARAH OZACKY-LAZAR is a researcher of Arab society and its relationship with the state, a veteran activist for peace and shared society, and a research fellow at the Van Leer Jerusalem Institute. YOAV STERN is a business entrepreneur and social activist, a former journalist, who served as a correspondent for Arab society in Israel in Haaretz, newspaper and a commentator on Arab media.

Whitewashed history

Clear bias towards Zionist views.
The book uses soft language to describe atrocities, including Palestinian villages being "abandoned" when they were actually ethnically cleansed, and focusing on the land being Israel, rather than Palestine, or Palestine-Israel. The authors describe ethnically-cleansed Palestinian villages as “uprooted,” and never mention who, how, or why these villages were “uprooted.” Soft language that dismisses Israel’s crimes against Palestinians.

Palestinians, or "the Arabs," as referenced in the book, are merely citizens of Israel, rather than being victims of Israel's ethnic cleansing and its Nakba of the Palestinians.

The authors claim to be Zionist, so at least they are honest. But reading the book was difficult with its soft language, and clear white settler-colonialist-centric views. The authors do attempt to bridge peace between Palestinians and Israelis, but I am disappointed at how Israel's crimes, both historical and ongoing, are softened and relegated to "events."

Everything references Israel, Israelis, and Israeli culture, and how “the Arabs” are “part of the Israeli culture.” This disregards, at best, the colonization, land theft, life theft, and destruction of Palestinian freedom and sovereignty, and subsumes the Palestinians under Israeli control. There is such a blatant bias in this book that it was difficult to get through without feeling that the history within was so whitewashed and the writing itself is a testament to the colonization of the Palestinians by the Israelis. The entire book was Israeli-centric, even as it purports to be sympathetic, and even empathetic to their “Arab neighbors.”

The entire book is a testimony of Israeli domination and control of Palestinians, packaged with a faux-sympathetic voice. I find it hard to believe the authors learned anything from their conversations with Palestinians, and instead walked away from them feeling smug in their Zionist worldview and that they are gracious enough to consider Palestinians as human and equals.

I did wonder if some of these "conversations" were made up, because they seem so unbelievable, and not how people speak. I understand it's not a verbatim script, of course, but something felt off about them, and I can't help but wonder if the authors took liberties in finagling a different messaging than the original speaker intended.