I e c ~ r l m d f t o e d R . q , , ~ , G I N U M

Israel and Its Third World Jews

Black Panthers: The Movement Mark Iris & Avraham Shama

Much of what is written about Israel toda\- concentrates on the Arab-Israeli confrontation. Indeed, thc threat of armed conflict has focused world attention on the overriding question of war and peace in the Middlc East while diverting it from the way the Israeli government handles domestic problems. With crucial internal social issues being overlooked, there is little wonder that the rise of the Black Panther movement in Israel is a misunderstood event. In the absence of informed reporting the name Panther itself becomes a reference point bringing to mind pictures of an Israeli Huey Newton parading about Dizengoff Circle in Tel Aviv, brandishing a UZ[ submachine gun, Actually there is no organizational, ideological or personal contact between the Israeli Black Panthers and the American organization of the same name. But the groups share one thing in common, the frustrations of living in poverty in the midst of increasing affluence. The Black Panthers in the United States represent a relatively small minority; but the problem in Israel is shared by up to 50 percent of the population and is not one of racial confrontation.

l'hc total Jcwish population of Israel. shortl\ after indcpendencc was declared in May of 1948, was 716,000. Bct~cen 1948 and 1951 total communitics of immigrants came to Israel frorn many Mid-Eastern countries, among them Yemen, lraq, Syria, Lebanon, Egypt and to a lesser extent Morocco, Tunisia and l ran. Other immigrants came in succeeding years, largely' from North Africa. These 700,000 people and their descendants now comprising a majority of the Jewish population of Israel and referred to in Israel as Franks, Orientals, Sephardim or Eastern Jews-confronted the state with immediate problems of absorption and long-range problems of social integration. Though ad hoc policies were devised to solve the immediate problems, the issues of social integration were much more complex and less amenable to easy answers.

Although Oriental Jews were accepted as Jews by the strictest definitions of codified Jewish law, they repre- sented cultures and attachments to Israel that were strange to the Israeli socialist pioneer heritage. Most of the Oriental Jews immigrated to Israel because of religious attachment;

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Leonard Freed M A G N U M

they spoke different dialects of Arabic and knew very little Hebrew. In sharp contrast, many of the pioneers were areligious and in many cases anti-religious, especially the k i b b u t z n i k i m - t h e settlers of collective farms. They could speak to each other in either Hebrew or Yiddish, the latter a tongue as alien to the Sephardim as Chinese. Eastern Jews also hold different group values regarding the father 's role in the family, the acceptance of polygamy, the position of women, a preference for large families and the rejection of agricultural work as an acceptable way of earning a living. In contrast, the Israeli value system stressed small families, greater part icipation by women in society, modern agri- culture, collective and cooperative economic and political activity and socialism. In addition, those European Jews who had escaped the Hitler regime and the ravaging effects of World War II were a highly educated group including many university-educated intellectuals and professionals. In contrast, the general level of education among the Eastern Jews was much lower. Eastern Jews believed that a woman should marry at 14 or 15 and start a family, a role for which she needed little formal education. The number of Sephardic leaders was further reduced by the practice of wealthy, educated Orientals (particularly Tunisians and Moroccans) of either returning to their native countries or emigrating to France and other European countries.

Since differences in culture, education and life style were closely related to ethnic background, there was a potential for two different and separate Jewish societies to evolve in Israel. To meet the problems posed by this division, the government was challenged to produce a comprehensive plan for social integration.

Waves of Immigrants

The immediate problem for the new and small state was one of housing and feeding the massive numbers of new immigrants, many of whom were in desperate personal condition. The Europeans were survivors of concentration camps; the Sephardim often arrived with no money or personal property, in many cases completing long and arduous journeys, encouraged only by their desire to be in the land of the Bible. Israel dealt very successfully with the immediate needs for food, housing and medical care. Even though these efforts were complicated by the necessity of simultaneously fighting the War of Independence while

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"In the Musrara section o f Jerusalem and elsewhere in the Promised Land there are slums as raunchy as any to be f o u n d in America's urban ghettos. "' (Beggars on the Lag Ba'Omer festival route)

absorbing the first waves of new arrivals, each new citizen was given a bed, and every family received a tent. The families were later transferred to immigrant camps in the countryside, schools were established and some jobs were p rov ided-mos t ly in the service and agricultural sectors. The new arrivals were immediately granted full citizenship, and in the mid-1950s a long-range plan was begun to settle them in cooperative farms and development towns. The Euro- peans whose skills and education enabled them to secure jobs and homes in various cities were less affected by these moves than were the Sephardim. Although the plan involved the commitment of millions of dollars, it failed because it a t tempted to create farmers from people whose culture defined farming as demeaning work. The develop- ment towns were unsuccessful because of the failure to establish industries in which unskilled settlers could be employed.

When the first plan failed the Oriental Jews moved to city slums or were transferred from the immigrant camps to apartment buildings where they were forced to live in flats much too small for their large families. The drastic overcrowding which resulted has been only partly alleviated in recent years. (In 1969, 19 percent of the Sephardim born outside Israel lived with three or more per room as opposed to 41 percent in 1961.) In the Musrara section of Jerusalem and elsewhere in the Promised Land there are slums as raunchy as any to be found in America's urban ghettos, with perhaps even worse overcrowding.

The economic and social hardships caused by large families were neglected by official policies. For instance, on

the birth of its tenth child a family received an award of I L l 0 0 (Israeli lirot) and a visit from David Ben-Gurion. No at tempt was made either to change the family-size values of the easterners or to introduce them to contraceptive practices.

Instead of politically socializing the eastern immigrants who had been widely excluded from political activities in their countries of origin and felt passive toward participa- tion, Israeli political parties found it more expedient to buy votes. Candidates could either bribe the individual voter, bribe the father (thus insuring the support of the entire family) or bribe a potential leader of immigrants.

In one area of integration the Israelis achieved notable success- the military. The Israel Defense Army conducted intensive three-month Hebrew language courses for all immigrant soldiers and special tutoring programs to enable soldiers to pass matriculation exams required for admit- tance to Hebrew universities. Women soldiers were dis- patched to development towns primarily to serve as teachers. Most important, soldiers of various backgrounds gained increased understanding of each other while sharing a common experience in the sole major Israeli insti tution which runs exclusively on merit and where discrimination, partisan politics and influence are absent.

In the educational life of the state the Sephardim were often ignored. Oriental Jewish history was neglected by all schools and the Ministry of Education. Bialik, the noted

Oriental Jews in Zaad preparing for the festival o f Lag Ba 'Omer, tbe traditional pilgrimage to tbe tomb o f Rabbi Sbimon Bar Yobai at Meron in Nortb Galilee.

European Hebrew poet, was studied, but Rambam (Maimonides), the famed Sephardic rabbi and philosopher, was ignored or at best received cursory treatment. In part this policy stemmed from the Ministry of Education, but it was also due to the teachers being mostly of European origin. Since the teachers are allowed to apply for positions of their choice, the centrally located schools are staffed by the best teachers, and the schools for Sephardic students get second best. In other cultural activities as well (such as the theater and music), Sephardim were excluded from active participation and their potential contributions were ignored.

The discrimination against Oriental Jews became apparent to many Sephardim for the first time in the 1960s. After the Six Day War which had given them a feeling of being equal partners with European Jews in the fight for survival, the Sephardic Jews (and particularly veterans and young people) became painfully aware of the inequalities of civilian life as represented by the following conditions: [] Although the Sephardim comprise over one-half of the Jewish population of Israel, only 16 percent of the high school graduates in !968-69 were Sephardic and only 12 percent of the university students were of Eastern back- ground. [] The average annual income of a family whose head was born in Africa or Asia is IL 8,200; the European counter- part earns IL 12,000. Given the larger size of the Sephardic families (4.9 versus 3.1) Sephardic per capita income is 44 percent of European. [] Sephardim, a majority of the Jewish population, are a

small minority in the Knesset (national legislature) and were ill-represented in the National Unity Cabinet, formed immediately prior to the Six Day War, just as they were in all previous cabinets. Of 21 ministers in the Unity cabinet, only two are Sephardim. l-lLocal officials are overwhelmingly European Jews, Usually recruited by the established political parties and imposed on the local populace. [] A disproportionate number of juvenile delinquents are from Sephardic families. [] Housing problems although somewhat alleviated, are still a brutal fact of life for many Oriental families. [] Most discouraging of all is the fear that many Sephardim are becoming trapped in an inescapable cycle of poverty, low education and menial jobs from which the next generation could not escape.

In the economic activity and expansion that followed the Six Day War, Sephardim made only marginal progress. Most acutely aware of this were the youth- the children of Moroccan and other eastern immigrants, those born in Israel. They were witness not only to the speedier economic progress of the Europeans but also to the generous concessions granted to new immigrants, mostly of Western origin. They received low-interest mortgages, access to apartments, an initial period of exemption from the onerous income taxes, deferred military service, substantial waivers of customs and consumer taxes (which saved more than half the cost of durable goods such as cars and heavy appliances). The newcomers enjoyed relative luxury while the native-born Sephardim stagnated in 'the hovels of Musrara.

Leonard Freed M A G N U M