TITLE: Violence Sparks Desire Among American Jews to Support Israel's Arab Minority

AUTHOR: Ori Nir

PUB:

DATE: January 21, 2001

American Jews are showing more interest in sending money to Israel's Arab minority than they did before the October violence inside Israel's borders that left 13 Israeli Arab citizens dead. In yet another new development, U.S. Jewry is showing greater support for all-Arab projects, as opposed to Jewish-Arab cooperative programs, than they used to. In contrast to the past, this trend is not only prevalent among organizations with a liberal image, such as the New Israel Fund (NIF), but also includes the more conservative Jewish Federation. Various Jewish organizations are looking at projects to underwrite in the future and developing public relations strategies Jewish Americans to giving Jewish Federation funds to Arab causes.Protests by Israeli Arabs in early October prodded American Jewish groups to commit to improving Jewish-Arab relations and the status of Arabs as Israeli citizens and even as a national minority. Organizations with a history in this area, such as the New Israel Fund or the Abraham Fund, are re-organizing their involvement in Arab-sector projects. The Abraham Fund, which finances projects aimed at Jewish-Arab coexistence, is undergoing a "conceptual revision," according to executive vice-president Dan Pattir. The fund's intention is to increase the donor pool, give preference to projects that will help "mend the tears" between Jews and Arabs, and to try to match up individual American donors with specific projects that suit their inclinations. One option the Abraham Fund is looking into is a program for education toward coexistence, including production of a television series on the subject in Hebrew and Arabic, and the establishment of a database. The NIF, which has paid for projects in the Arab sector since its founding 20 years ago - such as setting up and backing Arab non-profit organizations - is researching Israeli Arab-sector needs to help frame a strategy for expediting high-priority projects. "We are examining at depth how to help Arab citizens in areas encouragement and the like," said Eliezer Yaari, NIF director in Israel. Yaari said there is increased interest in increasing investment in the private sector both from the fund's directors in Israel and from American benefactors who were alarmed by the deterioration in relations between Jews and Arabs in Israel. To help increase American Jewish awareness of the problems of Israel's Arab minority, the NIF asked Leonard Fein, a liberal American Jewish leader, to devise an appropriate public relations strategy. Fein, who was in Israel recently, said he intends to focus on the issue of the civil status of Israeli Arabs and to create a parallel between the American civil rights movement and the struggle of Israeli Arabs for equal rights. NIF officials hope their efforts will prepare the hearts and minds, not only of liberal supporters in America, but chiefly of the more conservative wing of America's Jews. "Civil rights and civil equality are perhaps the most basic elements of the American ethos, and they are instilled in anyone who has finished high school," said NIF public relations head Itzik Shanan. Jesse Krasnow, head of a new United Jewish Appeal-Federation of New York task-force to explore Jewish-Arab relations, echoed Shanan. Krasnow, who was in Israel about two weeks ago, said he and his colleagues concluded that, "Programs of people just talking to each other are unsufficient." The UJA-Federation of New York wants to support projects that will empower Israel's Arab citizens, while closing the economic gaps between them and the Jewish sector, Krasnow said. It is looking for ways to expand its support for Israeli Arabs, and may even "devise a model that will serve as an example for other federations in this area." The Jewish Federation of San Francisco has supported Israeli Arab projects for years, and Jewish activists there say the decision of their New York counterparts to follow their lead is very significant: New York's Jewish community is the largest and most powerful in America - it sets the tones in many ways - and has an image of being a relatively conservative community. So what it does, others will follow. The new initiaves by the various U.S. Jewish Federations to aid Israeli Arabs are still in the early stages, and no real fundraising in this area has begun yet. "These things have certainly not yet reached a stage of ripeness," said Krasnow. The president and CEO of United Jewish Communities, Stephen Solender, also emphasized this is not yet an organized initiative by his organization, but rather local initiatives by a few federations. The United Jewish Communities still believes an intensive public relations campaign must precede planning or implementation any initiative in this area, he said. END top