The last taboo

Haifa mayor's call for Arab immigration to his city breaks Israel's last taboo
Andrew Friedman

A few months ago, a couple of work colleagues of mine thought I was crazy when I reversed Ariel Sharon's infamous promise that the fate of Gaza Strip community Netzarim would be the same as that of Tel Aviv.

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Sharon, of course, uttered his unfortunate words when he was still considered by many to be a "bulldozing" right-winger, and at the time he meant that Israel would be no more willing to compromise on Jewish towns in Gaza than it would the country's main metropolis.

But my friends – all supporters of disengagement - didn't like it so much when I said I still believe Sharon will eventually be proven right – the fate of Tel Aviv will be the same as that of the now destroyed Netzarim.

Quick change

Last week, Haifa Mayor Yona Yahav took a massive step in that direction by telling Israeli-Arab newspaper Kul al-Arab he sees no "reason why some Palestinian residents should not come back to Haifa" under terms of an Israel-Palestinian peace deal. Yahav's startling invitation could well spell the first shot in a battle to flood Israel with Arab immigrants, and eventually do away with the Jewish majority in this country.

They say things change quickly here, and it's true. When I arrived in Israel in 1989, three points were widely considered part of the Israeli consensus (sort of like the "consensus" that supported the Gaza pullout – never measured, but very widely assumed): no talks with the PLO, no Palestinian state, and no negotiations over Jerusalem.

Since then, Israeli politicians have broken down that consensus, point-by-point. In 1992 Yitzhak Rabin convinced a majority of Israelis the first leg of the consensus was misguided, and was elected prime minister promising he would begin talks with the PLO. A year later, he shook hands with Yasser Arafat at the White House, yet fiercely and consistently rejected charges by right-wing leaders such as Ehud Olmert and Ariel Sharon that the move would eventually force Israel to divide Jerusalem and recognize a Palestinian state.

Then, in 1997, the second consensus went by the wayside, when the Labor Party backtracked on Rabin's promise, and included its support for a Palestinian state "with limited sovereignty" on its official platform. And in July, 2000, Labor Prime Minister Ehud Barak did away with the final leg of the triangle, offering to divide Jerusalem, going so far as to offer the Palestinians "joint sovereignty" over the Temple Mount.

Palestinian demands

Over the same period of time, the Palestinian position has remained clear and consistent: Israel must withdraw from every inch of territory obtained in 1967, and must agree to a fully sovereign Palestinian state. Palestinian leaders have also made clear, in both word and deed, that they view this process not as a path to end the century-old conflict with the Jewish people, but rather as a first step in the 1974 "Stages Plan". That plan calls for accepting part of Palestine, and to use any territory obtained in negotiations as a base from which to continue the armed struggle for the eventual obliteration of Israel.

In addition, the Palestinians have remained steadfast in their demand that children and grandchildren of Arab refugees from 1948 be granted an unlimited "right" to immigrate to Israel from places like Lebanon and Syria, countries they have called home for more than 50 years but have refused to grant them citizenship. Refugee groups and Palestinian officials alike have stressed they will not consider their conflict with Israel over without the full realization of this demand.

Now, this final – and most dangerous – taboo has been broken. Rather than point out clearly that the call for open Arab immigration to Israel is tantamount to calling for the destruction of Israel, for such a policy would quickly make the Jews a minority in the only Jewish country in the world, and rather than demand the Arab world finally move to deal with the children and grandchildren of 1948 refugees, as Israel has done for Jewish refugees and their descendants of the same period, Mayor Yahav "hope(s) their problem is solved" by relocating to Haifa.

And so the lesson to the Palestinians is clear: If they remain strong in their demands, Israel will eventually fall into line and cooperate.

The day after

Mayor Yahav's message is particularly poignant as Israel moves towards "converging" on Jewish communities such as Tekoa, Shilo, Bet El and Nokdim, possibly as soon as the end of this year, and eventually on Maaleh Adumim, Efrat and the Western Wall. But the day after Israel finds itself behind Abba Eban's "Auschwitz borders," rest assured that Yona Yahav's remarks will feature in every Palestinian speech .

At first, most Israelis will reject the proposal, but far-left groups such as Peace Now and Gush Shalom will support it. But eventually, the plan will be adopted by mainstream, center-left parties like Labor and Meretz, who – as Rabin and Sharon before them – will promise that limited Palestinian immigration to Haifa, Jaffa, Lod, and Ramle poses no demographic threat to Israel, and they will tar anyone daring to challenge the idea with the epithet "extremist."

But sooner rather than later, the "limited" numbers will become a flood, and the Jews will become a minority in their own state.

And then it will be too late.

Andrew Friedman is opinion editor of Ynetnews