The Demon of Demography

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bAll this makes a mockery of the frantic call of the doves for breturn of the liberated lands, for the most powerful of their argu- bments is that of population. “To keep these lands and make bthem part of the Jewish state,” contend those doves, “is to bjeopardize the ‘Jewish character of Israel.’ The influx of hun- bdreds of thousands of Arabs into Israel would see their percent- bage rise dramatically and, thanks to their birthrate, the majori- bty that Jews now enjoy in Israel may very well end.”

bIt is a theme played over and over by those who easily don bthe mantle of liberal and progressive thinking. In an article in bMidstream magazine (June-July 1976), Yair Kotler, a senior edi- btor of the Israeli newspaper Ha’Aretz, summed up that position: b“If Israel were to annex the occupied territories, the population bratio of ‘Greater Israel’ would be 60 percent Jews to 40 percent bArabs. Then, sooner or later, the impressive Arab birthrate bwhich holds a world record would overtake the Jewish popu- blation. If that were to happen, how could you prevent bcatastrophe?”

bSimilarly, former Israeli Professor Amitai Etzioni wrote of bthe demographic problem posed by the liberated lands in a 1968 barticle, “Israel’s Colonial Temptations.” Said Etzioni: “Israel is bboth a Jewish and democratic state. How is it to maintain its bJewish tradition with a population that is 45 percent Arab, a bpeople whose numbers are increasing at a greater rate than the bJews? If the Arabs are to be given full citizenship rights, would bthis not give them a majority one day . . .?”

bCountless articles and warnings have been thundered at all bthe governments of Israel concerning the demographic demon bthat would be involved in the annexation of the territories. Fig- bures of all kinds, statistics, numbers, projections, have been pro- bduced, all warning of the need to rid ourselves of the territories bbecause of the Arabs who go along with them. Indeed, just a few bmonths after the 1967 war, the Peace and Security Movement bissued a statement warning that annexation of the territories bwould force Israel to lose either its Jewishness or its democracy, bsince the enormous Arab population and birthrate would even- btually make the Arabs a majority.

bSurely, in the face of the clear Arab population threat bwithin the State of Israel itself, it is worse than a delusion to bbelieve that giving away the territories frees Israel of an Arab b