NOVANEWS
http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/1155132.html
By Merav Michaeli
Abir Kopty, 34, a graduate of the City University of London, is a
member of the Nazareth City Council and works for the Palestinian
Government Media Center.
Abir Kopty, do all Israeli Arabs stand by what Scandar Copti said?
I very much hoped he would say that.
Why?
To spoil the celebrations a little, because it’s impossible to
continue sweeping things away. This person expressed the feelings of a
million or so citizens who say this all the time, but no one wants to
listen. Everyone rejoiced that there was a film nominated for an
Oscar, but no one thought that the person behind the film also has
views and finally, he expressed them. He said the truth: The state
does not represent us.
Where does it not represent you?
In the occupation policy, in the settlement policy, in the policy of
racism and discrimination. Eighty-percent unemployment among women;
the many employers who do not hire Arabs. The development budget –
hardly 4 percent of it reaches the Arab local authorities. Upper
Nazareth is almost swallowing up Nazareth because it is expanding so
much, and Nazareth has no lands to expand onto. Nazareth does not have
an industrial zone. Education – I don’t study my past, my identity – I
study the history of the Jewish people. I also see the teachers’ fear
of teaching our history, the fear that the Education Ministry will
dismiss them.
In Israel, they say that 80 percent of Arab women do not work because
of tradition.
I’ve already lost the patience to put up with those racist statements.
Does anyone even know Arab society that he can say such things? The
Jews have no idea what processes are underway in Arab society,
especially when it comes to the status of women. We welcome
revolutions in our society; there have been many achievements, many
taboos shattered. Today the number of women studying in academia is
greater than the number of men studying, so studying is something they
are allowed to do but working isn’t? It’s another attempt at
silencing: Poverty is cultural and unemployment is cultural. How can
that be? I refuse to let them leave us 60 years behind. First let them
get to know Arab society, let them learn the data on our society.
Can you understand the Jews who feel so threatened?
Yes, I can understand the feeling of a minority amid an Arab Middle
East, I can understand that the Iranian president’s statements are
frightening, I can understand the trauma of the Holocaust that people
still experience to this day. I can understand these things,
certainly.
My problem is not with the sense of fear and being threatened; my
problem is with how the political system uses these feelings and
manipulates them to shut the eyes of the people and block their ears –
to silence all opposition to policy. Because the Jewish people are not
the only people who have suffered, there are many other nations that
are suffering, and you have to see this. My problem is that
specifically a nation that suffered so much cannot see beyond itself
and its own home.
There are some who say you have the best conditions compared with the
Arab countries where there is no democracy.
Why is it even necessary to compare me with other Arab countries? I
pay taxes to the state, I respect the law and I fulfill all my
obligations.
Do you feel torn between your Israeli affiliation and your Palestinian
affiliation?
I wouldn’t call it affiliation. I take my citizenship very seriously
and I want to contribute to the state, but I want this state to
contribute to me and let me feel that it is also loyal to me, not just
to the Jews in this state. I take my citizenship with all due
seriousness and I fight for it – I don’t give it up because I have
nowhere to go. Listen, I can’t forget October 2000 – I saw the dead
bodies with my own eyes. It was blood that was shed wantonly.
You know that Jews say the same thing about suicide bombings .
I don’t carry out suicide bombings . The Palestinian citizens of
Israel do not do suicide bombings . I also write against suicide
bombings . I fight for the morality of my society; I want my society
to be clean from such things.
Do the Israeli Palestinians want to be part of Israeli society?
That is a decision we made long ago – it’s obvious that people want to
be part of it, but not at the price of conceding our identity. We want
to be equal and different. If integrating means forgetting who we are
and what we are and not leaving space for our special affairs, then
it’s not integration. Integration for me means removing all the
psychological separation fences that divide not only Jews and
Palestinians, but also Jews and Jews.
How do you learn about the establishment of the state as a tragedy
that befell your people and at the same time integrate into that
state?
That’s the concession I made; I accepted the State of Israel. I just
want it to finally recognize the injustice that was done to my people.
It’s a very powerful thing that we are saying – we are accepting this
state that was established on the ruins of our people, but we do not
accept that it ignores its responsibility for this injustice. The
moment they acknowledge the injustice, it will be possible to discuss
how to amend it.
But how do you live with this injustice? Isn’t there anger? Isn’t
there a desire to avenge it?
There’s a difference between someone who sits and cries and says they
did such and such to me and someone who says, yes, this was done to
me, but I want to do something with that. I want to be a partner in
shaping policy, to feel that I belong, to be someone with resources in
this country. I want to change the state for the benefit of us all –
my struggle is feminist and socioeconomic, I’m not stuck on the
Palestinian issue. I’m not whining and sitting on the side.
If you were the prime minister’s adviser on Israeli Palestinian
affairs, what would you tell him?
To listen to us. They don’t listen to us. They don’t see us. They
don’t see our distress and they don’t see our desire to integrate. I
would suggest that they don’t look at us as an enemy or a demographic
problem. They should listen to us, talk to us.
What expectations does the Palestinian Authority have from the visit
by U.S. Vice President Joe Biden?
People are skeptical about the Israeli government’s true intentions,
but they will not miss any opportunity to achieve peace.
Do the Palestinians want peace with Israel?
The Palestinians are a people who want their own state that will live
with Israel in peace – if Israel will want to live in peace, if it
will not want to control [the new state’s] borders or send its army
into it.