A recent report confirmed that a quarter of Israelis are poor and now another study, by the Center of the Study of Israeli Arab Society of the Van Leer Jerusalem Institute, finds even worse results for Arabs:
New book reveals more than half of Arab households in Israel live in poverty, Arabs discriminated against in terms of budgets, funding. Study recommends government take affirmative action to change situation.
According to the book, the situation of Israel’s Arab society, which includes 1.1 million citizens, has deteriorated in recent years, mostly due to lack of governmental funding.
The Arab community suffers from social and cultural problems, severe economic distress, and problems of violence, drugs and unemployment. Arabs are also discriminated against in terms of education, employment and infrastructure budgets, the study claims.
Researchers of the Van Leer institute who contributed to the book believe that without a drastic change in the Israeli government’s policy – mainly its economic policy – the situation of the Arab population stands to remain the same.
The researchers recommend that the government implement a more egalitarian policy – even at the price of imposing affirmative action – toward Israeli Arabs, and allocate more funds for infrastructure, education and employment.
Israel’s attempted suffocation of the Palestinian people will only lead to greater radicalisation and bitterness between the two peoples. Perhaps that is what Israel truly wants.