balad group in the West Galilee village of Kabul. He is the per- br

fect example of the product that Israel’s “head-and-stomach” br

policy makers helped to produce. Rabin and Begin would surely br

point with pride to the young Israeli Arab, a graduate of Haifa’s br

Ironi Aleph High School (the only Jewish-Arab high school in br

the land), as well as of Haifa University’s Department of Middle br

East History. Says this well-educated Israeli Arab: “A Palesti- br

nian state in the West Bank will not solve my problems. . . . The br

PLO is the only body that fights for me. . . . I do not feel this is br

my country. I don’t care if I have more materially here than br

Arabs elsewhere. I am willing to be poor if it is my country. . . .

“I don’t know where a Palestinian state should be, but . . . br

of course I hope it will include my village.”

Let it be noted that his village is in the Galilee.

On Israeli campuses, Jewish students wear T-shirts that br

read “UCLA” or “Boston Celtics.” But in May 1980 a group of br

Arab students took off their shirts to reveal their own brand of br

T-shirt which read: “The PLO represents us.” That is the fun- br

damental belief of all the Israeli Arab students, and if there are br

Jews who are shocked it is merely because of their own refusal to br

see.

The Arab students and intellectuals are the representatives br

of a new generation of Israeli Arabs, one that rejects that very descrip- br

tion. In a Jewish Telegraphic Agency (JTA) article (May 5, br

1977) Gil Sedan wrote: “Nor do they trouble to conceal their br

increasingly negative attitude toward the government of Israel, br

the country of which they are citizens. In the Arab village of br

Kfar Kana, just north of Nazareth, this reporter asked a young br

shopkeeper if he was Muslim or Christian. ‘We are all Arabs,’ br

was his reply.”

A perceptive article in Maariv was titled: “From Israeli Ar- br

abs to Palestinians.” That is the nub of the issue. These people br

now consider themselves Palestinian Arabs who, through trag- br

edy, happen to live in Israel. It is not a situation they are happy br

with, and many are trying to change it.

The pity is that for years, the leaders of Israel (and, of br

course, the American Jewish Establishment) pointed to Israeli br

Arab passivity and acquiescence as proof of their loyalty to, and br

acceptance of, the Jewish state. Either they were fools or pre- br

ferred to act as such. The real reason for Israeli Arab passivity br