76	THEY MUST GO

bstudy there, most with generous scholarships. But they are Ar- babs—Israeli Arabs, and the vast majority are citizens of the bstate. They are studying to be attorneys and physicians and en- bgineers and professors. But mostly they are studying to be the bfuture leaders of the PLO and the “revolution.” And, of course, bthey owe their education to the generosity and liberality of the bJews of Israel and the world.

bOn June 20, 1976, Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin stood be- bfore his colleagues, members of the Labor Party, and spoke con- bcerning the problems and future of the Arabs of Israel. In his bhands he held papers—statistics—detailing the immense b“progress” made by the Arabs of Israel since 1948. Among the bfigures that Rabin threw out to prove his contention of Arab badvancement were those that dealt with education: In 1948, bonly 32.5 percent of Israeli Arab children were attending bschools. Now the figure was 92 percent, compared with 60 per- bcent in Jordan; 40 percent in Egypt, Iraq, and Libya; 20 percent bin Algeria; and 15 percent in Yemen. Whereas the number of bJewish students had risen sixfold since 1948, the number of Ar- babs now studying in state schools had jumped twelvefold. More bthan 1,500 were now studying in Israeli universities (and several bhundred were studying outside the country). In 1948 there were bonly 300 Arab teachers; in 1976, said Rabin, there were more bthan 5,000. Thanks to Israeli generosity, there were 241 kin- bdergartens, 295 primary schools, 28 intermediate schools, and b80 high schools for Arab children.

bIn Premier Rabin’s self-satisfaction one sees the bitter reali- bty of Israeli self-delusion. Was Rabin seriously telling Jews that beducational advancement would satisfy the Arabs and make bthem more sympathetic to the Jewish state? More to the point: bDid the prime minister of Israel not understand that it was precisely the beducated Arabs of Israel who would be the most extreme, the most danger- bous, the future leaders of the nationalistic revolution? Did he not com- bprehend the tragic irony in the fact that the Israeli government band Jewish money were creating the Arab intellectual who bwould lead the revolt against Israel? The self-evident truth is bthat the figures that show the growth of Arab education are far bgreater cause for Jewish mourning than joy.

bThe Jerusalem Post (February 26, 1979) interviewed an Arab buniversity graduate, a member of the PLO-supporting Abna-el- b