nineteen years the Arabs of Israel were able to meet and talk br

with other Arabs who were not Israelis, who called themselves br

“Palestinians,” and who openly spoke of the day when the hated br

Jews would leave. The Israeli Arab suddenly realized that he br

was neither meat nor milk, fish nor fowl. He was not an Israeli, br

but now he was struck by the awesome realization that he had br

not been a “Palestinian” all those years either! He was looked br

upon by the West Bank “Palestinians” as a traitor who cooper- br

ated with, and accepted, Israeli citizenship from the Jews who br

had stolen the land from his people. In one fell swoop, all the br

factors that went into creating the new radical Israeli Arab came br

together. Things would never be the same again.

Not only were there new contacts with the West Bank br

“Palestinians,” but this was also the beginning of joint coopera- br

tion. Thus, Israeli Arabs participated in a “Palestine Week” br

held in 1978 at the Universities of Bethlehem and Bir Zeit. They br

helped organize it, and they printed and distributed a leaflet br

calling for support of the PLO. In defiance of the law several br

Israeli Arab students have begun studying in schools in the lib- br

erated territories. Indeed, Hanna Nasir, the PLO-backing br

former president of Bir Zeit College (near Ramallah) who was br

deported by Israel in 1974 for incitement, told a Kuwaiti news- br

paper in January 1979: “Despite all Israeli efforts to prevent br

young Arabs from within the Green Line [Israel] from both br

studying and teaching at the college, we have three lecturers br

there today from the region occupied in 1948 [Israel] plus sev- br

eral students.

“One of the beautiful things is the renewal of ties between br

all members of the Palestinian people living in the land of br

Palestine, and this makes it easier to fight against the con- br

querors.”

This is quite true. The opening of the borders between the br

State of Israel and the liberated areas was seen by the incredibly br

obtuse Israelis as allowing the better-fed Israeli Arabs to dem- br

onstrate the benefits of Israeli occupation. Of course, a child br

could have known that exactly the opposite would occur. The br

Israeli Arabs were suddenly given the opportunity to meet, regu- br

larly, with their own people who were struggling for what the Is- br

raeli Arab understood to be a common goal: freedom.

The mayor of Hebron, Fahd Kawasma, said (January 22, br

1979): “The Israeli Arabs have remained foreigners and their br