Why Palestinians want to be Israeli citizens

[oberliner]

One of the givens of the Middle East peace process is that Palestinians are eager to be free of rule by Israel and to live in a state of their own. That's why a new poll of the Arabs of East Jerusalem is striking: It shows that more of those people actually would prefer to be citizens of Israel than of a Palestinian state.

The poll, conducted in November, may be something of an embarrassment to Palestinian political leaders, who lately have been insisting that Israel should stop expanding settlements in the eastern half of Jerusalem -- in effect giving up any claim to it -- as a precondition for the resumption of peace negotiations. This week the demolition of a hotel in an Arab neighborhood in preparation for the construction of Jewish housing prompted fresh criticism of Israel from Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton, while a leaked memo from European Union diplomats stationed in the city proposed that EU governments recognize East Jerusalem as the capital of the future Palestinian state.

The awkward fact is that the 270,000 Arabs who live in East Jerusalem may not be very enthusiastic about joining Palestine. The survey, which was designed and supervised by former State Department Middle East researcher David Pollock, found that only 30 percent said they would prefer to be citizens of Palestine in a two-state solution, while 35 percent said they would choose Israeli citizenship. (The rest said they didn't know or refused to answer.) Forty percent said they would consider moving to another neighborhood in order to become a citizen of Israel rather than Palestine, and 54 percent said that if their neighborhood were assigned to Israel, they would not move to Palestine.

http://voices.washingtonpost.com/postpartisan/2011/01/_one_of_the_givens.html

[TomClash]

1. One State Solution

No need to create an artificial, piecemeal state with buffer zones, checkpoints and so on. Simply allow all people living there to be citizens of Israel.

[shira]

2. And if Hamas or Fatah is voted into power, so be it? Let fascism rule?

Not to mention most Palestinians and Israelis are against one-state, so if a civil war breaks out between the Jews and Arabs like in 1947, oh well?

:shrug:

Heck, Hamas and Fatah can't even get along without going to war against each other...

Your vision of peace will lead to more war.

[LeftishBrit]

10. That would be great if the majority of Israelis and Palestinians wanted it

Unfortunately, at present most don't; so that the likely consequence would be civil war.

[TomClash]

14. My point was . . .

. . . if so many Palestinians want to be Israelis, the one state solution would be optimal. Admittedly, it was part tongue in cheek.

[azurnoir]

3. what percentage of the "Palestinians" living in EJerusalem are Israeli citizens?

the article is quite unclear about that, the term Palestinian has been used to blur that distinction, the truly awkward fact is that 70% of those questioned either answered Palestine or refused to answer

[shira]

4. About 5 percent

Interior Ministry spokeswoman Sabine Hadad said about 13,000 of east Jerusalem's Arab residents, or roughly 5 percent, now hold Israeli citizenship.

http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/wire/sns-ap-ml-israel-palestinian-citizens,0,1426175.story

So most 'Palestinians' living in E.Jerusalem prefer to live free in Israel rather than under the fascism of the PA and Hamas.

Shocking.

:eyes:

[Donald Ian Rankin]

15. I suspect it's "rich" rather than "free".

Israel is immeasurably richer than Palestine, with correspondingly much better public services and opportunities for employment.

And calling the PA fascist is just laughable.

[shira]

16. Free as in individual basic freedoms, not living in fear...

And the PA and Hamas are politically as anti-liberal as it gets. Their ideology has absolutely nothing in common with liberalism. WRT Jews and Israel, the propaganda spewed daily by Hamas/PA would make the most die-hard Nazis blush.

Also, according to dictionary definition, the PA and Hamas are fascist in every way...
http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/fascism

[azurnoir]

5. why oh why does ignored persist in replying to me?

honest debate can not be the reason

[hayu_lol]

6. Perhaps one of the major reasons to remain in Israel...

could be that the people do not want to endure Sharia Law...particularly their daughters.

[oberliner]

7. Health Care and Salaries

I believe those were the two most common responses given.

[azurnoir]

9. Sharia Law??? in the WB don't think so n/t

[LeftishBrit]

12. Sounds like economic factors were more important in the decisions

[azurnoir]

8. Another awkward fact most Palestinians in EJ chose not to be Israeli citizens

Special cases include Arabs living in East Jerusalem, and the Golan Heights, administered by Israel since the Six-Day War of 1967. The residents of East Jerusalem became permanent residents of Israel shortly after the war. Only a few of them accepted Israeli citizenship, and most of them keep close ties with the West Bank. They are allowed to vote for municipal services.<9> The mostly Druze residents of the Golan Heights are considered permanent residents under the Golan Heights Law of 1981. The vast majority have refused to accept full Israeli citizenship, choosing to retain their Syrian citizenship and identity.<10>

This page was last modified on 11 January 2011 at 21:42.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arab_citizens_of_Israel

[eyl]

19. At the moment

they can get at least some of the benefits without having to claim citizenship. If a peace deal is reached and a Palestinian state formed, that will presumably no longer be the case.

[LeftishBrit]

11. People should be given the choice IMO

Some will choose to continue living in Israel; some in Palestine.

[shaayecanaan]

13. You can choose between having access to 77% of your historical homeland

or 22%. Most people would choose the 77%. Of course in practical terms Arab Israelis have access to 100% since its not difficult to access Palestine from Israel, but it is quite difficult the other way around.

Personally, I hope every last one of them remains an Israeli. And I know Jewish Israelis feel the same because they are so motivated by the principles of equality and social justice. May they all live long and have ten children apiece.

[eyl]

18. Yeah, that's all we need

an even more imminent overpopulation crisis :)

[azurnoir]

17. Do you think this poll was well recieved by the US council on foreign relations?

it was prepared by Pechter Polls for presentation to them on 1/12/11, but does not seem to mentioned on their site

http://www.cfr.org/