The Demon of Demography

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bno such thing because of political reasons” (Maariv, May 24, 1978).

bIt is, of course, true that any such plan would never be badopted and cooperated with by any Arab local council, for they ball realize that population growth is a powerful weapon. But the bfact that the Israeli government hesitates to attempt such a poli- bcy, out of fear of its effect on the Israeli Arabs, shows how strong bthe growing Arab minority has already become. That fact is bsurely not lost on the Arabs of Israel.

bLet it never be forgotten, too, that the Israeli Arabs’ willing- bness to revolt and express their hatred of Israel and Zionism is bdirectly related to their exploding and young population. Both bthe intellectual fuel and the unfortunate cannon fodder of revo- blution come from young people. It is from them that political bextremism emanates, and they are most open to its siren call. bEvery revolution is begun and fought by young people. The benormously high percentage of them among Israeli Arabs is bominous.

bNot only has the Israeli government no policy for reducing bthe number of Arabs; over the years it has agreed to bring more binto the country or turned a blind eye to their illegal arrival. bImmediately after the 1948 war, under the agreement signed in bRhodes, areas in the Triangle were added to Israel, along with b30,000 Arabs. In addition, as a goodwill gesture designed to en- bcourage “peace,” 40,000 Arabs were allowed to return from bLebanon, France, and Cyprus under a “reunification-of-fami- blies” scheme. Among those allowed to return were vicious anti- bZionists such as Greek Orthodox Bishop Maximus Hakim and bCommunist leaders, who, it was hoped, would be a “moderating binfluence”!

bThousands of residents of the northern Arab villages of bGush Halev (Jish), Rami, Kfar Yasif, and Eilbon were allowed beither to return legally or to remain after having illegally crossed bthe border, often with the aid of “well-meaning” Jews.

bIndeed, large numbers of more “well-meaning” Israelis to- bday demand the return to their homes of the Arabs of Ikrit and bBir’im villages, despite the warning by Knesset member Amnon bLinn: “That would be a green light for a mass campaign to let ball the displaced Arabs inside Israel go back to their 1948 b[border] homes as part of the Harakat el Awda—the return move- bment.” More important, it would open the door for a campaign b