(Newsweek) Mouna Maroun - I've spent the majority of my life in Israel's north, a beacon of coexistence where Jews and Arabs have lived side-by-side in harmony. Yet today, for the first time in my life, I understand why Jews are afraid of us. When I saw an elderly woman being abducted and taken into Gaza, I felt that it could have been my own mother. When I saw pictures of the Arabs and Bedouins who were killed, I saw myself. On Oct. 7, Hamas set back any hope we had for peace, gearing us all up for another generation of violence. But there is a silver lining. A recent survey by the Israel Democracy Institute (IDI) indicated that 70% of Arabs in Israel identify with the State of Israel, the highest percentage who feel part of the state since they began asking this question in 2003. The writer is Vice President and Dean of Research at the University of Haifa.
2024-01-22 00:00:00Full ArticleBACK Visit the Daily Alert Archive