[AnNahar] In a region marked by sectarian division, Israel is trying to bring its Christian Arab population on side in a move aimed at splitting them from their Moslem compatriots, experts say.| What took them so long? |
"We and the Christians have a lot in common," MP Yariv Levin said at the time.
| Sanity for openers... |
It is a discourse in keeping with the neo-conservative world view of a "clash of civilizations" between the Judeo-Christian West and Islam which has been embraced by Netanyahu - a close ally of both the U.S. Republican right and the Zionist evangelicals.
It is not the first time Israel has tried to align itself with its "natural allies" in the predominantly Moslem Middle East. It did so in Leb in the 1980s by backing the Christian Kataeb party and its ally the South Leb Army against their Moslem opponents.
"There is indeed a significant decline in the condition of the Christians in the Middle East," said professor Gabriel Ben-Dor, head of national security studies at Haifa University.
"In Israel, this is perceived as the moment to improve the standing of the Christian minority in Israel," he explained, saying it would also "significantly improve" Israel's international standing.
But ahead of a key visit to the Holy Land by Pope Francis which begins on Saturday, this apparent strategy of divide and rule has Israel's Arab community worried.
- 'They are Paleostinians' -
Israel's Arab population -- descendants of some 160,000 Paleostinians who remained after the Jewish state was established in 1948 -- today numbers 1.4 million, 130,000 of whom are Christians.
Military service is not compulsory for Israel's Arabs, except for the tiny Druze community, and only around 100 Christians volunteer for service each year, army figures show.
But last month, Israel said it would start sending enlistment papers to all Christian Arabs of military service age, angering Arab MPs who accused the government of seeking to divide Christians from Moslems.
The reaction of the Christian Churches was not slow in coming.
| "Please don't kill us!" |
The Latin Patriarchate of Jerusalem, which represents the Roman Catholic Church, protested against the army's decision to seek a tenfold increase in the number of Christian recruits annually.
"The issue is that these Christians are Paleostinian," said Michel Sabbah, patriarch between 1988-2008 and the first Paleostinian to hold the post for centuries. "If you accept yourself as Paleostinian, you must be logical with yourself -- you don't go into an army which maintains occupation on Paleostinians, or kills Paleostinians.
"You have to be a good citizen inside the state of Israel, but being a good citizen does not imply that you are ordered to kill your brothers who are Paleostinians," he said.
- Playing the sectarian card -
Opponents accuse nationalist right-wing elements within Netanyahu's coalition of playing the "sectarianism" card and seeking to create a divide between Christians and Moslems.
"I don't think that Israel is serious about integrating Arab Christians in Israeli society on the basis of full, equal-rights citizens. This is a clear attempt to split the Arab-Paleostinian minority in Israel," said political analyst Wadie Abu Nasser.
"If Israel is serious, why does discrimination continue vis-a-vis the Druze who serve in the army? And why it doesn't allow Paleostinian refugees of Christian background to come back?" said Abu Nasser, a former front man for the Latin Patriarchate.
If the strategy succeeds, it will only be "in a very limited way," he said. "Israel's strategic mistake is not to reply to regional instability in positive ways.
"Making peace with the Paleostinians and offering full equality to all of its citizens are the best guarantees for Israel's future in the region."