LOS MARGINADOS: Israel’s Religiously Divided Society: Part II

viernes, 18 de marzo de 2016

Israel’s Religiously Divided Society: Part II

Welcome to Demography Is Destiny. We launched this to counter two media memes: that humans are a cancer which is destroying our planet and that world population is spiralling to unsustainable levels. The real story is that intelligent and inventive humans will rise to the challenge of climate change and that our real problem is the coming demographic winter. The editors of Demography is Destiny are Marcus and Shannon Roberts, who live in Auckland, New Zealand. Send them your comments and suggestions. - See more at: http://www.mercatornet.com/demography/view/israels-religiously-divided-society-part-ii/17772#sthash.NMeFfLkF.dpuf

FRIDAY, 18 MARCH 2016

Israel’s Religiously Divided Society: Part II

BY MARCUS ROBERTS

In my last blogpost I introduced the Pew Research Center’s report: “Israel’s Religiously Divided Society”. In that post I noted some of the key religious findings of report. Today I will pull out the more political results for you – mainly to do with settlements, the two-state solution and Arabs living in Israel. Again I encourage you to read the report yourselves if you are further interested in the findings.

One of the largest political problems facing Israel is internal peace. When it comes to the feelings of Jews and Arabs towards their respective leaderships there is plenty of scepticism to go around. When asked whether the Israeli government is making "a sincere effort towards peace" 72% of Arabs said no, while only 20% said yes. However, 40% of Jews also answered no to this question while 56% said yes. The numbers were even worse when it came to the Palestinian leadership. 88% of Jews thought that the Palestinian leadership was not making a sincere effort towards peace and only 10% thought that it was. But 40% of Arabs also thought that the Palestinian leadership was not sincere in its peace efforts and a bare half thought that it was.

When it comes to the view of Israel as the Jewish homeland, Jews are nearly unanimous (98%) in agreeing that all Jews living anywhere in the world have the right to move to Israel and receive immediate citizenship. This number is practically unchanged throughout all four of the Jewish sub-groupings. Perhaps linked to this view of Jewish immigration, 76% of Jews think that anti-Semitism is common and increasing in the world and 91% say that a Jewish state is necessary for the long-term survival of the Jewish people.

The view of Israel as a Jewish homeland also perhaps colours the finding that more Jews agree or strongly agree that "Arabs should be expelled or transferred from Israel" than disagree/strongly disagree (48% vs 46%). The sub-group most in favour of this is not the ultra-orthodox Haredi but the "religious" Dati. Even 36% of the secular Hiloni agree with this statement.

Linked to this response, perhaps, is the fact that 60% of Israeli Jews said that God gave Israel to the Jewish people. This number jumps to 85% of West Bank settlers who say the same thing.

When it comes to views about the possibility of a peaceful coexistence between Israel and an Independent Palestinian state, more Arab Israelis than Jewish Israelis are confident that “a way can be found”. 50% of Arab Israelis are hopeful that a two-state solution can be found, while only 43% of Jewish Israelis share this confidence. However, this gap has significantly shrunk in the last two years as both Jewish and Arabs have become less confident in the prospects of a two-state solution. While Jewish Israelis are only slightly less confident than they were in 2013 (when 46% said they were confident of a two-state solution), Arab Israelis’ confidence has plummeted from 80% to 50% in 2015.

One of the roadblocks to a peaceful two-state solution is the continued construction of Israeli settlements, particularly in the West Bank. Currently 4% of Israeli Jews live in the West Bank (not including East Jerusalem). More Israeli Jews think that such settlements help Israel’s security (42%) than those who say they harm Israel’s security (30%). (25% think that they do not make a difference). A majority of Arab Israelis think that the settlements hurt (63%) rather than help (26%) Israel’s security.

The fragile nature of peace in the Middle East dominates our views on Israel, but it is not as large a concern for those actually living in Israel. When the respondents of the survey were asked to say, in their own words, what the single biggest longterm problem facing Israel was today, about 40% of Israel Jews cited some form of economic issue (inequality, housing costs etc). The largest response from Arabs was also some type of economic issue. Although roughly similar numbers of Jews named a security threat (Iran, terrorism) as those who cited economic issues, this contrasted with the views of Jews living outside of Israel. In 2013, two-thirds of US Jews named various security issues as the biggest long-term challenge to Israel and only 1% mentioned an economic problem.

- See more at: http://www.mercatornet.com/demography/view/israels-religiously-divided-society-part-ii/17772#sthash.NMeFfLkF.dpuf

There is important news from the United States today. Sheila Liaugminas reports that, “finally”, the United States Congress and the State Department have acknowledged that the violence directed against Christians, Yazidis and other religious minorities by ISIS is genocide.

On Monday, the House of Representatives passed a resolution of Congressman Jeff Fortenberry (R-NE) to that effect unanimously. It took Secretary of State John Kerry until the March 17 deadline set by Congress last year to follow suit. His staff were still reviewing the evidence. Don’t they read the newspaper?

Sheila, who has been interviewing people all week about this concludes:

Congressman Fortenberry told me what he’s been saying to everyone listening lately, that this is a threat to civilization itself. As of today, the U.S. has risen to join a growing international coalition of voices and forces that can, finally, do something to stop the spread of that threat, reverse it, and protect innocent people and the existence of whole populations. What can be done is newly on the table. What will be done comes next.

Still in the Middle East, Marcus Roberts concludes his informative highlights from a Pew survey of Israel’s religiously divided society (Jews and Arabs both seem to worry about economic issues as much as about violence); and Christopher Szabo reports the (rather positive) comments of former Israeli prime minister Shimon Peres on peace in the region.

There’s lots more good reading in the other articles too. Enjoy your weekend!