Mudar Younes, chairperson of the National Union of Arab Municipalities in Israel, says that crime and violence in Arab society are creating a severe problem of governance in both local and central government. Talking to journalists during a tour organized by the Givat Haviva Center for a Shared Society, Younes said that, because of the absence of enforcement and governance, residents did not rely on anyone for their personal security, and many in the community, including public officeholders, kept guns under their pillows to protect themselves and their families. There are about half a million firearms among Israel's Arab population, largely stolen from the IDF, but also coming from the West Bank.
Younes said that the crime organizations that flourish in an environment of poverty in which there are no sources of credit take over legitimate businesses such as contractors in Arab towns. He spoke of death threats to contractors to make them remove bids for local authority projects, leaving tenders committees with a fictitious choice among companies connected to criminals.
"We live in real fear in our society, of the criminals, of weapons, of violence, a constant, unrelenting fear, and we cannot cope alone. This is a problem for the country as a whole, and it is not staying within the boundaries of the Arab municipalities. The trickle into the Jewish towns will become a flood," Younes said. He related how, last week, unknown assailants had fired rounds from an M16 rifle at a municipal vehicle, "And I don’t even know why, what annoyed whoever opened fire. But that's the reality. When there's criticism or anger directed at the local authority, it very quickly comes to violence and weapons."
Younes accuses the police of using excessive violence against demonstrators, which he says causes a greater loss of trust on the part of the public not only in the police but in government in general. "The crisis of confidence worsened considerably because of the conduct of the police at the demonstration at Umm al-Fahm last week," he said.
Do you believe Netanyahu's promises?
"No. At the moment he's focused purely on enforcement. What about the rest? There are immediate problems that need to be solved, and it's not happening. For now, they're opening more police stations and trying to recruit Muslim police officers. What's the sense in that? Instead of helping where help is urgently needed, he instructed police chief Kobi Shabtai to suppress the demonstrations violently."
On the land issue, Younes is a little more optimistic. He says that at least in his town, Ara Ar'ara, most of the 2,000 housing units built without permits on land zoned for agriculture are in the process of being approved. He explained that, nevertheless, the land problem was severe, because of a shortage of state-owned land and the difficulty in expropriating land for public uses.
Published by Globes, Israel business news - en.globes.co.il - on March 15, 2021
© Copyright of Globes Publisher Itonut (1983) Ltd. 2021