Israel's Jewish people and the Palestinian public
Since its founding, Israel has defined itself as both a Jewish and democratic state, while denying Palestinians their right to self-determination.
On the evening of April 7, I was sitting in the schoolyard of the Hand in Hand — Bridge over the Wadi primary school, which is on the outskirts of the Arab village of Kafr Qara in the northern region of Wadi Ara. I was watching the boys and girls who huddled together at the foot of the stage and cheered Israeli singer Ehud Banai, Arab musician George Sam’an and their bands. My eyes then wandered around, to the parents, the teachers and the dignitaries — men and women, both Jewish and Arab, who attended the event marking the 10th anniversary of this bilingual school. When they held hands and started singing and dancing to the rhythm of Hebrew, Arabic and bilingual songs, I joined in.
Someone pointed to a young woman who was surrounded by kids asking for her signature. I was told she was Nof Atamna Ismaeel, the winner of the TV cooking reality show "Master Chef." Her children are pupils at the Bridge over the Wadi school.
Well, I thought to myself, could this place really be a part of the nation-state of the Jewish people? Is this school actually under the jurisdiction of the Ministry of Education of the Jewish nation-state? I regretted that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, the same person who demands that the Palestinian leadership in Ramallah announce that Israel is the state of the Jewish nation, was not present here. How would he have explained to Ismaeel and her children that they are foreigners in their own country? I thought it was a pity Minister of Foreign Affairs Avigdor Liberman has never met the school principal, Hassan Agbaria, and the Arab teaching staff. These teachers could have taught him a chapter on the history of the land of Israel. A visit to the Bridge over the Wadi school could have shown them how it is possible to maintain coexistence between the majority and the minority in the same country — a country that acknowledges the right of two peoples to sing to the same homeland-loving songs in two languages.
Like any other sovereign state, Israel has the right to define itself as it deems fit. The Knesset may decide that the Arabic language will no longer be an official language in Israel (a bill to this effect was, in fact, submitted in 2011). By the same token, the state may impose fines on schools that mark Nakba Day and organize visits to the destroyed villages where their students' forefathers were born. And the Ministry of Education may punish school principals in Arab villages for failing to force their students to sing the Israeli national anthem, including the words “A Jewish soul still yearns.” However, there is no way to dictate to others their own self-determination.
