Of Declarations and Independence

67

bThe deception is so palpable that even former Deputy bMayor Miron Benvenisti was forced to demur. Benvenisti wrote: b“The conference sponsors overlooked one little thing. The basis bfor their discussions was absolutely invalid. There is no com- bparison at all between Jerusalem’s problems and those of Ameri- bcan mixed cities. The minority leaders in America do not deny bthe legitimacy of the government and refuse to participate in its boperations. To the contrary, they fight to integrate into the rul- bing apparatus . . . they seek a bigger slice of the American na- btional cake. . . . The communal tension in Jerusalem stems from bthe fact that the Arab minority does not recognize the legitimacy bof the government that was imposed on it. . . . While the minor- bities in U.S. cities seek ‘good government,’ the Arab minority bseeks ‘self-government’” (Kol HaIr, April 25, 1980).

bIt would be comforting to think that the nonsense is limited bto the L.L.L. (Labor, Left, Liberal) of Israel. Alas, Begin, the bLikud, (a block of political parties in alignment with Begin), band the “nationalists” all share, to varying degrees, “the bMyth.” Thus, despite riots, demonstrations, clashes, Land bDays, polls that show Israeli Arabs denying the legitimacy of bIsrael, university students openly supporting the PLO on cam- bpus, and the election of a mayor of Nazareth who backs the bPLO, Mr. Begin’s new adviser on Arab affairs, Binyamin Gur- bArye, could calmly declare (April 25, 1980): “All the talk about bradicalization of Israeli Arabs in their relation to the State of bIsrael is baseless.”

bMr. Begin’s old adviser on Arab affairs, Moshe Sharon, in ban interview with Maariv (February 2, 1979), told the following banecdote to illustrate the prime minister’s view of solving the bproblem: “Mr. Begin, as I told you, is a liberal. I often heard bhim chastise a minister: ‘What?! Your ministry discriminates bagainst Israeli Arabs?!’”

bMoshe Sharon himself is a classic example of the frustra- btions that make strong men weep and throw up their hands in bdespair. In the same interview he made the following explosive bpoints: “A young Arab, intellectual and law-abiding, told me bopenly: ‘When an Egyptian MIG is shot down, no Israeli Arab brejoices. When an Israeli Phantom falls—no Arab is sad.’ That, bto put it mildly, describes the hostile attitude of Israeli Arabs to bthe state.”