Israel

Opinion: No!

That is a loaded question that will illicit responses from both extreme sides of the issue. It is a question of opinion rather than fact but I'll dive into this since controversy has never stopped me from saying what I believe. Given the conflict since the mandate for Israel was established and the fact Israel has not acted in good faith because it continually denies the right of return to the Palestinians who fled in fear during the years Israel was forming I would have to answer a resounding NO! Israel agreed to the right of return as a condition of their Statehood yet today Israel emphatically denies Palestinians that right so in my mind the conditions have not been met and the world should revoke State status and define all of the portioned lands as a united Palestinian State.

Opinion: Yes!

There are two operative parts to that question. There is the implicit question as to whether a Jewish State is something that should exist. There is the explicit question as to whether the geographical location chosen for this Jewish State is proper for its mission. Both questions should be answered in the affirmative for the following reasons.

1) Why a Jewish State: Herzl explained quite well that the European concept of a nation-state was dependent on the idea that all of the people in any particular nation were of the same ethnic stock and heritage. Jews were branded by this system to be "the Other" and were regarded at best as possible equals and at worse as traitors, spies, thieves, and fifth columns. When the Dreyfus Affair turned out marches in Paris that said "Death to the Jews" on account of a kangaroo court against a particular guiltless Jew, it became clear that the Jew could not be integrated into Europe. After the Holocaust, the strongest proof that the Jew and the European Nation-State were irreconcilable, this view persists. In Europe, it is now directed at the Moslems since the Jews are not large enough of a threat to the European System. Unlike Moslems, though, which can return to their countries of origin if the discrimination becomes intolerable, the Jews did not have such a place. This is why the Jewish State is necessary. Since it came into existence it has accepted Jewish political refugees from over 50 nations and flown missions at its own expense to rescue Jews from at least 10 nations.

2) Why Palestine: Ahad Ha'am explains that the Jewish Soul is intrinsically connected to his history and in the same way that a German-American can never be as properly German as a German in Germany, the People of Israel can never be as properly Jewish if they are not in the Land of Israel. The relics in that land speak to a Jewish sensibility and character. There are also religious reasons as expounded by Rav Avraham Kook which posit that the development of a Jewish State in Israel hastens the arrival of the Messiah. There are additional political reasons why Palestine and not Europe. As explained above, the European Culture is strongly anti-Other and making a Jewish State there would have fostered much more contempt and alienation (ironically).

Note: The "No" position is incorrect about the mandate to allow Palestinians to return to Israel being provided for in the permission to Declare a State. The UN specifically provided for two state with the intent that these two states would be ethnically pure or close to pure and that remaining minority would be granted equal rights (similar to the Balfour Declaration's idea of the Jews and Arabs living together in harmony). This explains why the regions selected for the Jewish State were exclusively those with large Jewish Settlements or almost no settlement at all. The Palestinians who assert the Right of Return do so under the United Nations Declaration of Rights which is a non-binding recommendation on Member States or do so through Resolution 194 whose implementation, Israelis assert is contingent on the "practicability" and "a desire to leave peaceably with their neighbors" which is unclear in the Palestinian Case.

Issue of Rights

To the knowledge of this contributor, and of his brother, a former US government official now retired in Israel, and of his son-in-law, a native Israeli working as a professional engineer in the south of Israel, there are no citizenship "rights" that are denied to Arabs as compared to Jews.

Particular Issues that Israeli Arabs Face

-- There are some benefits that people receive following military service that are not extended to Arabs because they're excused from military service. In order to make up for this discrepancy there is a voluntary "National Service" program for Arabs. Most of the jobs are in their own communities. After completing this service, they get many benefits similar to veterans of military service.

-- There are allegations that permits to build houses take longer for Arabs, especially in Jerusalem.

-- It's also difficult for Arab towns to get permission to expand beyond their present borders, resulting in overcrowding. (Note: Overcrowding in Arab towns is the result of Israeli-Arab families choosing to grow and/or more Arabs moving into Arab towns in Israel.)

-- Expenditures on public schools in Arab towns may be lower than majority-Jewish public schools elsewhere ... which may be justified since tax revenues from Arab towns are much lower.

These may be examples of prejudice within the bureaucracy, since there are no formal limitations under the law.

Benefits that Arabs have in Israel

Having now directly responded to the negative fishing expedition in the question, it's appropriate to take the opportunity to mention a few additional facts that point up the allegedly sad lot of the Arabs in Israel:

-- The percentage of Arab students in Israeli institutions of higher education is now roughly the same as the percentage of Arabs in the general population.

-- There are large numbers of Arab doctors and nurses who treat both Arab and Jewish patients throughout the Israeli hospital system.

-- The court that found former President Moshe Katzav guilty of wrongdoing and handed down a prison sentence was headed by a Christian Arab from Jaffa. The other two members of the court were women. Readers are invited to log in and list other countries in the region where criminal charges might be brought against a former president without a revolution, or where a court might include women, and Jews, and be headed by a Christian Arab, or by a Christian, or by an ethnic minority not in control of the government.