By Ira Sharkansky, Ph.D
JERUSALEM — Last week four Israelis were stabbed to death in Beer Sheva; two Border Police officers were shot to death in Hadera; five Israelis, including one Christian Arab police officer, were shot to death in the Haredi city of Bnei Brak; another Israeli was stabbed and seriously injured while riding a bus.
The first two terrorist attacks were committed by Israeli Arab citizens, who identified with ISIS. while the attack in Bnei Brak and the bus attack were carried out by West Bank Palestinians.
In each case the perpetrator(s) were killed, either by police or armed civilians.
The Christian Arab police officer became a hero, and was credited with saving the lives of numerous Haredim in Bnei Brak. As a result, the municipality has named a street for him, and his funeral attracted many Haredim from Bnei Brak and other locales.
Why Bnei Brak? Its residents are Haredim, more or less outside of the persistent quarrels between Israelis and Palestinians.
Maybe that shows the irrationality in the fight. That all efforts to reduce it to one or a few quarrels or elements are not sufficient.
And in each case, while extremist organizations claimed credit, the bulk of comment from Arab and Palestinian individuals and politicians was to condemn the killings.
The onset of Ramadan has been cited as one explanation for the violence. The Muslim holy month is a time of nationalist sentiment, especially when it is coupled with the Jewish holidays of Purim and Pesach, and the onset of Israel’s Independence Day. But who knows the real motives? Some of them appear to be individual feelings of failing, and going to what is very likely to be a suicide, along with killing Jews.
It may also have something do do with the marginalization of Palestinian interests, in the context of Israeli relations — formal or otherwise — with a host of Muslim countries. There was a recent meeting in Israel of Foreign Ministers of Israel, Egypt, UAE, Bahrain, and Morocco, as well as frequent meetings between ranking Israelis and King Abdullah of Jordan.
Arab governments continue to speak of a two-state solution and the rights of Palestinians. But those appear to be minor considerations when compared to trade, tourism, and the acquisition of Israeli military supplies.
Israel’s response to these attacks have included upping police preparedness, sweeps through Arab communities, arrests of individuals, some of them relatives of those involved in the attacks. The direct perpetrators of the attacks were killed at the sites, either by police or armed Israeli civilians. There have been other actions, with casualties, involved in police sweeps. It’s a time of tension, despite indications that it’s been a relatively peaceful year, with many more Arab than Jewish casualties. Many of the Arab casualties are the result of Arab vs Arab crime. Lots of illegal weapons in Arab hands, and enmity between rival families.
And some of the police action has been directed at protecting Arabs from generalized violence by Israelis.
How to view the extremist Arabs? Inspired by some combination of religion, nationalism, charismatic leaders? Intense. And to some extent isolated from other Muslims. But with some wider sense of shared affinity, and antagonism to the Jews’ control of what they see as rightfully theirs.
The chances of an Arab Right of Return, to what had been their homes, said to be assigned to their descendants, appears to be as close as possible to zero. A Palestinian state? Still lodged in the assertions of European and the U.S. government, as well as Muslim states. Yet the Israeli response talks about a Palestinian entity, short of being an independent state.
We’ll see how that goes. So far little movement suggesting that an independent Palestinian State is a real possibility.
Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas is frequently in Israeli headlines. He’s either talking up Palestinian interests, or receiving Israeli official visitors. He’s been critical of violence. But he pays a pension to the families of those doing the killing. And his term of office expired years ago.
We’re also experiencing a surge in immigration, especially from Ukraine but also from Russia and Belarus. It’s due to the war, with confusion as to numbers, but estimates of some 17,000 already arrived, and expectations of 50,000 to 100,000 coming by the end of the year. There are also quarrels about who’s entitled to come. The Law of Return grants citizenship to anyone with one Jewish grandparent, but the government has provided an opening to non-Jewish refugees having some contact with individuals already in Israel.
Newcomers are provided temporary settlement in hotels, which are mostly empty due to limited tourists in the context of COVID-19. And there is a housing shortage, with prices spiking as towers are being constructed in cities and towns across the country.
Many of the newcomers are well educated, and likely to be integrated into the economy. There are established programs of language training and other social services, with lots of volunteers anxious to be of service.
It’s a time of economic constraint, and generally, a time of change.
The earlier Russian immigration, beginning in 1988, has added more than a million to our population, with lots of highly trained engineers and physicians. We can expect the same from the current wave.
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Ira Sharkansky, Ph.D., is professor emeritus of political science at Hebrew University. He may be contacted via ira.sharkansky@sdjewishworld.com