The years 1975-1976 were of fundamental significance for the Arab population in Israel as well as for all authentic democratic forces in the country. In December 1975, Tawfiq Ziad, one of the leaders of the Communist Party of Israel (CPI), was first elected mayor of Nazareth, bringing to an end a quarter-century of control by Mapai and its agents in the city; and on  March 30, 1976, the first Land Day protests were held by the Arab public against the state’s confiscation of Arab lands and its wholesale discrimination of this community in all areas of public life.

Coming fast apace on these events, and by no means coincidentally, was a third: The detailed disclosure of a document written by Israel Koenig, a senior government official, which proposed means by which the rights of Arab citizens of Israel could be denied, their employment restricted, and their political activity restrained. Forty years after the publication of the Koenig Document, it’s important to look back and examine it and the current situation in light of what it proposed.

Israeli police in Nazareth on the first Land Day, March 30, 1976 (photo: La’am)

Main Themes of the Koenig Document

The document authored by Israel Koenig, then the director of the Interior Ministry’s Northern District, was first exposed in the daily newspaper of the Zionist-left party Mapam, Al HaMishmar (On Guard) on September 7, 1976. No date appears on the document itself, but from its contents it can be understood that it was written in response to the election of Tawfiq Ziad as mayor of Nazareth and the declaration, not long after, on the plans to hold the Land Day protests.

The Koenig Document was  unique in the bluntness of its recommendations, its overt racism and its presentation of all Arab citizens of Israel as enemies to be suppressed politically, economically, socially and culturally. The document reflected the frustration of the Israeli establishment that, despite 20 years of military rule under which the Arab community was controlled until 1966; despite the frequent arrests, the restrictions on movement, the obstacles to entering the labor market, the dwindling budgets for education and local councils – “the Israeli Arab is no longer passive” and is even accepting the path offered by the Communist Party.

Here are some of the dozens of recommendations made by Koenig: Judaizing the Galilee and “exploring possibilities for diluting existing Arab population concentrations”; “punishing [Arab] leaders who express hostility to the state and Zionism” in particular communists; limiting the number of Arabs employed in factories and companies, and giving preference to Jews over Arabs in major institutions; cutting National Insurance benefits paid to Arabs; placing limits on the number of Arab students studying in Israel’s institutions of higher learning, and encouraging them to register for the study of technical disciplines where the dropout rate is high; encouraging young Arabs to study abroad and making it difficult for them to return to Israel after completing their studies.

The Koenig Document is also patronizing towards Oriental Jews (Mizrahim). Koenig wrote openly about the “Levantine and superficial Arab character” of Jews from Arab countries, and in particular those who were employed in the state bureaucracy where they are responsible for Arab citizens.

Responses and Policies

Publication of the Koenig Document produced many responses of democratic protest from the Communist Party and Zionist leftist political groups, as well as from senior journalists and writers. From the right were heard responses of support for the director of the Interior Ministry’s Northern District who “confirmed the authenticity of the facts” (the response, for example, of Minister Zevulun Hammer from the National Religious Party).

But the main question is whether Koenig’s proposals were implemented in government policies?

Considering that eight months after the publication of the document, in May 1977, Knesset elections were held which brought the Likud to power, the implementation of these recommendations can be examined during its years of rule. For example, there was the establishment of 26 exclusively Jewish “observation settlements” in the Galilee, designed to “dilute the Arab population” in the region by moving in Jews. Later on, many Arab residents were forced out of Akko, and today the authorities are working to expel the residents of Umm al-Hiran in the Negev and to settle Jews in their place. Also, in recent years, cadres of Jewish nationalists are being encouraged to settle in Arab neighborhoods in cities with mixed populations.

While Koenig recommended making it difficult for Arab students to return to Israel after completing their studies abroad, not even he included in his document a “transfer” program like the one presented in 1988 by Rehavam Ze’evi, later to be appointed Minister of Tourism; or suggest a plan to revoke the Israeli citizenship of Palestinian Arabs, like that put forth by Avigdor Liberman, today Minister of Defense, during his 2015 election campaign:  “Umm Al-Faham to Palestine.”

But to all of these racist and reactionary plans have faced resistance, even effective resistance. The “Arab who is no longer passive” caused, for example, the failure of the establishment to block the path of this community to higher education,  and is not intimidated by signs of overt racism on campuses. However, when it comes to the employment of Arab academicians, there are pronounced difficulties in their being absorbed in positions the fields of the sciences and high-tech and in government offices, and their wages in the private sector are lower than those of their Jewish counterparts.

Unlike Koenig, right-wing governments feel the need to hide discrimination in annual budgets and plans for long-term economic development by the frequently releasing “Development plans for the Arab sector.” These programs, some of which are grossly deceitful, manifest the internal contradiction of the policies of right-wing governments: the spirit of Koenig infuses them, but the Israeli economy authentically needs Arab doctors, nurses, teachers, construction and industrial workers and employees in the services. As an illustration of the fact that necessity dictates policy, here’s one project from the government’s five-year plan for the Arab sector (December 2015): A pilot program for the training of Arab women drivers for public transport presented as “another element in the resolution of the plight of drivers in this sector.”

Koenigism as a worldview and praxis was and remains the basis of institutional politics in Israel, but its internal contradictions have not disappeared.

Tamar Gozansky

The above article appeared in a recent issue of Zo HaDerech, the Hebrew-language weekly paper of the Communist Party of Israel.