Judaization of the Galilee
Encyclopedia
Judaization of the Galilee (Hebrew
: Yehud ha-Galil; Arabic
: , tahweed al-jalīl) is a regional project and policy of the Israeli government and associated private organizations which is intended to increase Jewish population and communities in the Galilee
, a region within Israel
which has a Palestinian
Arab
majority.
between the Jewish and Arab communities escalated into the 1948 Arab-Israeli war
with the Israeli Declaration of Independence and the armies of Egypt, Iraq, Jordan, Lebanon and Syria crossed the former borders into the territory. The unenacted Partition Plan for Palestine contained in United Nations General Assembly Resolution 181, which had called for the establishment of separate Jewish and Arab states, had placed the Western Galilee region in the latter. However, following the 1949 Armistice Agreements that ended the official hostilities of the 1948 Arab-Israeli war, the region was instead incorporated into Israel. The Arab population, largely decimated by the war, still formed the majority in the area.
Israel's independence meant that the priorities of the Zionist movement shifted from securing a safe territorial base for Jewish immigrants (many of whom were refugees of European persecution), to building viable Jewish communities of the newly created sovereign state and 'the ingathering and assimilation of exiles' (mizug galuyot).
According to Oren Yiftachel
, Judaization is a statewide policy that aims at preventing the return of the 750,000 Palestinian refugees exiled by the 1948 war and at exerting Jewish control over Israeli territory which still included the 13-14% of the Palestinian population who remained there following the war. Judaization has also entailed the transfer of lands expropriated from Arabs to Jews, the physical destruction of Arab villages, towns, and neighbourhoods whose inhabitants fled or were expelled in the 1948 and 1967 wars, restrictions on Arab settlement and development and the parallel development of Jewish urban and industrial centers, changing Arabic place names to Hebrew ones, and the redrawing of municipal boundaries to ensure Jewish dominance. Two main areas targeted by the Judaization strategy are the Negev
and the Galilee.
who stressed the need to create a Jewish majority in the Galilee to reduce "the Arab
threat" and prevent the formation of "a nucleus of Arab nationalism
within the Jewish state
."
Part of the effort to develop and populate the Galilee with a Jewish majority included the Land Acquisition Law of 1953
that resulted in the confiscation of 1,220,000 dunams of land belonging to Arabs in the first year following its implementation.
Nahmani had advocated that particular attention be paid to settling Jews in the city of Nazareth
in a 1953 letter to Prime Minister Ben-Gurion. In the second half of 1954, the Defense Ministry
expanded its role in plans for the settlement of the Galilee by setting up the Galilee Development Department which was concerned with, among other things, caring for the new Jewish settlement of Upper Nazareth (Nazareth Illit) founded by the government that year. The creation of the Jewish city of Karmiel
on Arab village lands in 1962, which like Nazzaret Illit, serves as a Jewish regional capital, was also part of the implementation of the same policy.
An additional reason for the undertaking of the Judaization policy was, according to David McDowall, "to ensure that there could be no serious discussion of returning any of these lands earmarked for an Arab state by the United Nations to Arab control." By 1964, there were over 200 Jewish settlements in Israel's Northern District, while in the Galilee proper, as a result of intensive Jewish settlement, Jews outnumbered Palestinians by 3:2.
To attract Jewish migration to the areas targeted by the Judaization policy, public resources were marshalled to offer incentives in the form of tax breaks, land and housing subsidies, low interest loans and rent assistance. Direct establishment grants were also offered and regional infrastructure was developed to support the Jewish localities established.
Project implementation in the 1970s involved further confiscations of Arab land by the state, explicitly announced under the banner of the "Judaization of the Galilee" in February 1976. The announcement provoked the calling of a general strike
and demonstrations by the Arab population in which 6 Arab citizens were killed and many more wounded and arrested by state forces. These events are commemorated annually by Palestinians on Land Day
.
By the mid-1970s, "it was clear that the Jewish settlement drive in the Galilee was a failure." Israel Koenig, author of the Koenig Memorandum
, renewed the call for the Judaization of the Galilee in 1977. The continued growth of the Arab population and their continued ownership of land were sources of consternation for Koenig, who advocated adopting measures to compel them to leave the country.
Judaization efforts in the Galilee continued, and by the mid-1990s had changed the demography of the Galilee (and the Negev) significantly, though in the heart of the Galilee, Arabs still made up 72% of the population. A 1995 planning map for the Galilee drafted by the Regional Planning Board and leaked to the press, explicitly called for Judaization via the increase of Jewish settlement there distributed, "in such a way that they would disrupt any Palestinian geographical continuity."
Assaf Adiv states that while the government has avoided using the term "Judaization" to describe its development policies in the Galilee since the outbreak of the Second Intifada, government policy has remained aimed at promoting Jewish settlement in the Galilee.
(about 20%), Carmiel (10%), and Nahariya
.
With no guiding policy of the national government to deal with this integration, local regional councils have been pretty much left to themselves to deal with the problems and opportunities presented. Municipal workers of the Menashe regional council, in the lower Galilee, are sent to Arabic courses in order to provide services to their Arab residents; the Misgav Regional Council
has declared that "cooperation between all sectors... Jewish and Arab" is a development objective, though Jewish-Arab relations have not been without problems
Israeli nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) have taken a leading role in developing programs to promote integration and to militate for government development policies. "Promoting a shared society in mixed areas needs to be focused on specific policy planning, and must be managed with a multifaceted approach including socioeconomic, educational, public and governmental considerations," writes Amnon Be'eri-Sulitzeanu, co-executive director of the Abraham Fund. "It is vital to recognize that Israel today is a mixed country. Policy aimed at improving the nature of Jewish-Arab relations in mixed cities and regions is of primary and paramount importance for the future of the state."
Hebrew language
Hebrew is a Semitic language of the Afroasiatic language family. Culturally, is it considered by Jews and other religious groups as the language of the Jewish people, though other Jewish languages had originated among diaspora Jews, and the Hebrew language is also used by non-Jewish groups, such...
: Yehud ha-Galil; Arabic
Arabic language
Arabic is a name applied to the descendants of the Classical Arabic language of the 6th century AD, used most prominently in the Quran, the Islamic Holy Book...
: , tahweed al-jalīl) is a regional project and policy of the Israeli government and associated private organizations which is intended to increase Jewish population and communities in the Galilee
Galilee
Galilee , is a large region in northern Israel which overlaps with much of the administrative North District of the country. Traditionally divided into Upper Galilee , Lower Galilee , and Western Galilee , extending from Dan to the north, at the base of Mount Hermon, along Mount Lebanon to the...
, a region within Israel
Israel
The State of Israel is a parliamentary republic located in the Middle East, along the eastern shore of the Mediterranean Sea...
which has a Palestinian
Palestinian people
The Palestinian people, also referred to as Palestinians or Palestinian Arabs , are an Arabic-speaking people with origins in Palestine. Despite various wars and exoduses, roughly one third of the world's Palestinian population continues to reside in the area encompassing the West Bank, the Gaza...
Arab
Arab citizens of Israel
Arab citizens of Israel refers to citizens of Israel who are not Jewish, and whose cultural and linguistic heritage or ethnic identity is Arab....
majority.
Background
With the termination of the British Mandate of Palestine and the withdrawal of British troops in mid-May 1948, the ongoing civil war1947–1948 Civil War in Mandatory Palestine
The 1947–1948 Civil War in Mandatory Palestine lasted from 30 November 1947, the date of the United Nations vote in favour of the termination of the British Mandate for Palestine and the UN Partition Plan, to the termination of the British Mandate itself on 14 May 1948.This period constitutes the...
between the Jewish and Arab communities escalated into the 1948 Arab-Israeli war
1948 Arab-Israeli War
The 1948 Arab–Israeli War, known to Israelis as the War of Independence or War of Liberation The war commenced after the termination of the British Mandate for Palestine and the creation of an independent Israel at midnight on 14 May 1948 when, following a period of civil war, Arab armies invaded...
with the Israeli Declaration of Independence and the armies of Egypt, Iraq, Jordan, Lebanon and Syria crossed the former borders into the territory. The unenacted Partition Plan for Palestine contained in United Nations General Assembly Resolution 181, which had called for the establishment of separate Jewish and Arab states, had placed the Western Galilee region in the latter. However, following the 1949 Armistice Agreements that ended the official hostilities of the 1948 Arab-Israeli war, the region was instead incorporated into Israel. The Arab population, largely decimated by the war, still formed the majority in the area.
Israel's independence meant that the priorities of the Zionist movement shifted from securing a safe territorial base for Jewish immigrants (many of whom were refugees of European persecution), to building viable Jewish communities of the newly created sovereign state and 'the ingathering and assimilation of exiles' (mizug galuyot).
According to Oren Yiftachel
Oren Yiftachel
Oren Yiftachel teaches political geography, urban planning and public policy at Ben-Gurion University of the Negev.Yiftachel studied during the 1980s in Australian and Israeli universities...
, Judaization is a statewide policy that aims at preventing the return of the 750,000 Palestinian refugees exiled by the 1948 war and at exerting Jewish control over Israeli territory which still included the 13-14% of the Palestinian population who remained there following the war. Judaization has also entailed the transfer of lands expropriated from Arabs to Jews, the physical destruction of Arab villages, towns, and neighbourhoods whose inhabitants fled or were expelled in the 1948 and 1967 wars, restrictions on Arab settlement and development and the parallel development of Jewish urban and industrial centers, changing Arabic place names to Hebrew ones, and the redrawing of municipal boundaries to ensure Jewish dominance. Two main areas targeted by the Judaization strategy are the Negev
Negev
The Negev is a desert and semidesert region of southern Israel. The Arabs, including the native Bedouin population of the region, refer to the desert as al-Naqab. The origin of the word Neghebh is from the Hebrew root denoting 'dry'...
and the Galilee.
History of implementation
The policy to 'Judaize Galilee' was first endorsed by the Israeli cabinet in March 1949. Beginning in the early 1950s, the Jewish Agency, Israel Defence Forces (IDF) and Interior Ministry coordinated their efforts to increase the number of Jews living in the Galilee. Primary advocates of the project included Yosef Nahmani and Yosef WeitzYosef Weitz
Yosef Weitz was the director of the Land and Afforestation Department of the Jewish National Fund. From the 1930s, Weitz played a major role in acquiring land for the Yishuv, the pre-state Jewish community in Palestine.-Biography:...
who stressed the need to create a Jewish majority in the Galilee to reduce "the Arab
Arab
Arab people, also known as Arabs , are a panethnicity primarily living in the Arab world, which is located in Western Asia and North Africa. They are identified as such on one or more of genealogical, linguistic, or cultural grounds, with tribal affiliations, and intra-tribal relationships playing...
threat" and prevent the formation of "a nucleus of Arab nationalism
Arab nationalism
Arab nationalism is a nationalist ideology celebrating the glories of Arab civilization, the language and literature of the Arabs, calling for rejuvenation and political union in the Arab world...
within the Jewish state
Jewish state
A homeland for the Jewish people was an idea that rose to the fore in the 19th century in the wake of growing anti-Semitism and Jewish assimilation. Jewish emancipation in Europe paved the way for two ideological solutions to the Jewish Question: cultural assimilation, as envisaged by Moses...
."
Part of the effort to develop and populate the Galilee with a Jewish majority included the Land Acquisition Law of 1953
Land and Property Laws in Israel
Land and property laws in Israel provide a legal framework which governs land and property issues in Israel. At its establishment, Israel continued to apply the pre-existing Ottoman and British land law...
that resulted in the confiscation of 1,220,000 dunams of land belonging to Arabs in the first year following its implementation.
Nahmani had advocated that particular attention be paid to settling Jews in the city of Nazareth
Nazareth
Nazareth is the largest city in the North District of Israel. Known as "the Arab capital of Israel," the population is made up predominantly of Palestinian Arab citizens of Israel...
in a 1953 letter to Prime Minister Ben-Gurion. In the second half of 1954, the Defense Ministry
Ministry of Defense (Israel)
The Ministry of Defence of the government of Israel, is the governmental department responsible for defending the State of Israel from internal and external military threats...
expanded its role in plans for the settlement of the Galilee by setting up the Galilee Development Department which was concerned with, among other things, caring for the new Jewish settlement of Upper Nazareth (Nazareth Illit) founded by the government that year. The creation of the Jewish city of Karmiel
Karmiel
Karmiel is a city in northern Israel. Established in 1964 as a development town, Karmiel is located in the Beit HaKerem Valley which divides upper and lower Galilee. The city is located south of the Acre-Safed road, from Safed and from Acre...
on Arab village lands in 1962, which like Nazzaret Illit, serves as a Jewish regional capital, was also part of the implementation of the same policy.
An additional reason for the undertaking of the Judaization policy was, according to David McDowall, "to ensure that there could be no serious discussion of returning any of these lands earmarked for an Arab state by the United Nations to Arab control." By 1964, there were over 200 Jewish settlements in Israel's Northern District, while in the Galilee proper, as a result of intensive Jewish settlement, Jews outnumbered Palestinians by 3:2.
To attract Jewish migration to the areas targeted by the Judaization policy, public resources were marshalled to offer incentives in the form of tax breaks, land and housing subsidies, low interest loans and rent assistance. Direct establishment grants were also offered and regional infrastructure was developed to support the Jewish localities established.
Project implementation in the 1970s involved further confiscations of Arab land by the state, explicitly announced under the banner of the "Judaization of the Galilee" in February 1976. The announcement provoked the calling of a general strike
General strike
A general strike is a strike action by a critical mass of the labour force in a city, region, or country. While a general strike can be for political goals, economic goals, or both, it tends to gain its momentum from the ideological or class sympathies of the participants...
and demonstrations by the Arab population in which 6 Arab citizens were killed and many more wounded and arrested by state forces. These events are commemorated annually by Palestinians on Land Day
Land Day
Land Day , March 30, is an annual day of commemoration for Palestinians of the events of that date in 1976. In response to the Israeli government's announcement of a plan to expropriate thousands of dunams of land for "security and settlement purposes", a general strike and marches were organized...
.
By the mid-1970s, "it was clear that the Jewish settlement drive in the Galilee was a failure." Israel Koenig, author of the Koenig Memorandum
Koenig Memorandum
The Koenig Memorandum was a confidential and internal Israeli government document authored in April 1976 by Yisrael Koenig, a member of the Alignment , who served as the Northern District Commissioner of the Ministry of the Interior for 26 years.The document put forward a number of strategic...
, renewed the call for the Judaization of the Galilee in 1977. The continued growth of the Arab population and their continued ownership of land were sources of consternation for Koenig, who advocated adopting measures to compel them to leave the country.
Judaization efforts in the Galilee continued, and by the mid-1990s had changed the demography of the Galilee (and the Negev) significantly, though in the heart of the Galilee, Arabs still made up 72% of the population. A 1995 planning map for the Galilee drafted by the Regional Planning Board and leaked to the press, explicitly called for Judaization via the increase of Jewish settlement there distributed, "in such a way that they would disrupt any Palestinian geographical continuity."
Assaf Adiv states that while the government has avoided using the term "Judaization" to describe its development policies in the Galilee since the outbreak of the Second Intifada, government policy has remained aimed at promoting Jewish settlement in the Galilee.
Mixed Arab-Jewish communities
An unexpected effect of the government's efforts to attract Jewish population to the Galilee has been the growth of mixed Arab-Jewish communities. "Efforts to Judaize the Galilee have had a paradoxical effect," writes Meiron Rapaport of the Haaretz newspaper. "Prosperous Jews are leaving the northern cities... and in their place come Arabs." While the government built housing units in towns intended for Jewish settlement, Jews did not migrate to the region as expected. Meanwhile, Arabs, whose housing options were increasingly limited by development restrictions in their own villages, bought units in the Jewish towns. There are now substantial Arab populations in several new Galilee towns, including Upper NazarethNazareth Illit
Nazareth Illit is a city in the North District of Israel. At the end of 2007 it had a population of 40,800.Nazareth Illit was founded in the 1950s. Foundations were laid in 1954 and first residents moved in two years later...
(about 20%), Carmiel (10%), and Nahariya
Nahariya
Nahariya is the northernmost coastal city in Israel, with an estimated population of 51,200.-History:Nahariya was founded by German Jewish immigrants from the Fifth Aliyah in the 1930s...
.
With no guiding policy of the national government to deal with this integration, local regional councils have been pretty much left to themselves to deal with the problems and opportunities presented. Municipal workers of the Menashe regional council, in the lower Galilee, are sent to Arabic courses in order to provide services to their Arab residents; the Misgav Regional Council
Misgav Regional Council
The Misgav Regional Council is a regional council in the Galilee region in northern Israel. The regional council is home to 22,000 people, and comprises 35 small towns, mostly community settlements but also several Kibbutzim and Moshavim. The population of 29 of these is primarily Jewish, and 6...
has declared that "cooperation between all sectors... Jewish and Arab" is a development objective, though Jewish-Arab relations have not been without problems
Israeli nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) have taken a leading role in developing programs to promote integration and to militate for government development policies. "Promoting a shared society in mixed areas needs to be focused on specific policy planning, and must be managed with a multifaceted approach including socioeconomic, educational, public and governmental considerations," writes Amnon Be'eri-Sulitzeanu, co-executive director of the Abraham Fund. "It is vital to recognize that Israel today is a mixed country. Policy aimed at improving the nature of Jewish-Arab relations in mixed cities and regions is of primary and paramount importance for the future of the state."
See also
- Judaization of JerusalemJudaization of JerusalemThe Judaization of Jerusalem refers to the actions that Israel has sought to transform the physical and demographic landscape of Jerusalem to correspond with a vision of a united and fundamentally Jewish Jerusalem under Israeli sovereignty...
- Islamization of Jerusalem under Jordanian occupationIslamization of Jerusalem under Jordanian occupationIslamization of Jerusalem under Jordanian occupation refers to the allegation that Jordan sought to transform the demographics and character of East Jerusalem between 1948 and 1967 in order to make it more Muslim. Egyptian political commentator Bat Ye'or and Mayor of Jerusalem Teddy Kollek have...
- Islamization of the Temple MountIslamization of the Temple MountThe Islamization of the Temple Mount refers to the view that Muslim authorities have sought to appropriate and Islamicize the Temple Mount for exclusive Muslim use...
- Islamization of PalestineIslamization of PalestineThe Islamization of Palestine occurred as a result of the Islamic conquest of Palestine in 640 CE/A.D. It was a long process by which Islam was gradually accepted by the majority of the indigenous Christian, Samaritan and Jewish population of the area...