Tuesday, October 13, 2015

Incitement backfires on Arabs - Mohammed Kaabiya



by Mohammed Kaabiya

The Arab MKs calling for incitement do not have to live with the consequences of violence, like tanking tourism and economy.

On Sunday we witnessed a rare sight in the Arab sector, when the mayor of Nazareth, Ali Salem, lobbed accusations of "ruining coexistence" at Joint Arab List chairman Ayman Odeh during a TV interview. Salem became a hero to the Israeli public, and remarks such as "Finally, we're hearing a sane voice from the Arab sector," and "There's someone standing up to the bunch of inciters in the Knesset" were quick to come. Salem expressed the anger felt by many in the Arab sector over the Arab MKs' abandonment of their voters. 

Nazareth is one of the most popular tourism cities in Israel, even the world. Because it is so holy to Christians, many tourists, especially Christians, make pilgrimages there, and many Nazareth residents make their living from tourism. But locals also visit the city, and there are plenty of Jews who like to tour the alleyways and visit its restaurants, market, and shops. Nazareth residents cannot accept any harm to their flourishing tourism and trade income as a result of incitement by outsiders. 

After the Second Intifada, in which Nazareth played an integral part, the city's business suffered severely. The number of visitors, and customers, dropped drastically, which was a direct blow to the pockets of business owners. It was a long time before the situation improved and thing went back to how they used to be, and it was the same in other Arab cities where business profits depend on visitors. 

Ali Salem doesn't want to see an economic crisis, and that's what prompted him to explode and accuse Arab MKs of inciting young people and calling on them to take to the streets and get dragged into violent clashes with security forces. The Joint Arab List appropriating the Arab street infuriates a lot of people, who see it as a provocation, especially as the MKs' livings won't be affected. They are paid a salary out of tax revenues from the people who go out to protest after hearing a few slogans that drip with incitement and hatred. They face off with security forces and are arrested -- and that's if they're lucky and the situation doesn't deteriorate further. 

There is also the political issue that cannot be separated from the economic context. In the last Nazareth mayoral election, influential members of the Hadash party from outside the city tried to intervene and turn things in favor of their candidate, Ramaz Jirassi, even though Salem is a loyal member of the party and has contributed a lot to the municipality and its residents. But the moment he decided to run, the party saw him as a threat and refused to leave him alone. After he decided to run as an independent candidate, they launched a smear campaign, but a wide majority of the city didn't want the party involved and handed Hadash a painful loss, which might be another reason for the tension. 

Whether the reasons are personal or economic, I believe that Salem has helped the city with a new, young agenda. As a former member of one of the Arab parties, he realized that the MKs are deceiving the Arab public with their incitement, and that the violence they are calling for only serves them and their parties. 


Mohamed Kaabiya is the coordinator for the Bedouin division of the Aharai IDF organization, which helps encourage and prepare youths for IDF service.

Source: http://www.israelhayom.com/site/newsletter_opinion.php?id=13981

Copyright - Original materials copyright (c) by the authors.

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