Do Israelis Care About Arab Relations? or International Opinion?

A run down Muslim mosque in Tiberius. Israelis do not care and associate enough with Arabs to care. A bad situation as a consequence of the Israeli-Palestinian-Arab wars raging ever since the state became independent in 1948 / image from Israel pikiwiki: http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:PikiWiki_Israel_11832_al_omari_mosque_in_tiberias.jpg

From US president Obama's latest speeches and meeting with Israeli prime minister to business people trading all the way to tourists: one question is asked about Israel:

Do Israelis care about the Arabs? or care about peace with the Palestinians? Do they care about what others think of Israel's image towards the Arabs? 

The short answer: Not always - Israelis are too isolated from Arabs to care much (this is a new development). They are also too disappointed from International media and even more from foreign leaders to care about their image. This is a new situation and it could change. Is this such a bad situation?  YES! ABSOLUTELY!  Israelis care about tsunami victims in Japan and earthquake victims in Haiti. So not caring about hungry Egyptians and their bread riots and Syrian dictatorship protest killing seems downright cruel. 

It's hard for Israelis to forget the history between Israel and the Arabs. With all the fighting and public obscenities over 100 years, Israelis simply want the Arabs to go away. The Palestinian people and especially their leaders are essentially blamed by Israelis for being unable to make peace with Israeli leaders. There are many reasons (now called excuses) that Palestinians have not made peace with Israel. Here, time takes it toll on people. Time is what changed the Israeli state of mind towards peace. After so many years, almost a century, Israelis are just tired of "fighting for peace" (as the late Itzhak Rabin use to say). Add to the element of time three generations of Israelis born on the land with hopes for peace. There are disturbing signs of how much Israelis don't care. The fence along Israel' borders, essentially closing borders completely was a hotly debated issue just three years ago. Today Israelis accept the fence as an essential security measure. With it come complete isolation between Israel and all surrounding states. On the streets and building sites around Israel you see very few Palestinian workers. You see many more Chinese and Asian workers than Arabs. Just a few years ago, Palestinian complained that the only jobs they could get in Israel were construction and cleaning. Today they would have to stand in line behind a dozen other foreign nationals. Israelis are essentially isolated from Arabs. With the shift from accepting Palestinians now Israelis are looking for European and Asians to take place of the Palestinians. This sad state of affairs it a trend that will take years to reverse.

Sometimes Israelis compare the situation here to other places: they think back at the cold war in Europe. Did the Dutch care much about oppressive Hungarian regime? From the 1950s to the 1990s, what did the Swedish people do for the Albanians? Not much. When two nations are isolated, they do not influence each other. This is what happened in Israel with the Arabs. This includes the Palestinians and the surrounding Arab countries Jordan, Egypt, Syria and Lebanon. Before the second intifada (Sept. 2000 to 2006) Israelis remember shopping in villages east of Jerusalem for olive oil, goat cheese and furniture. Or going to a beach in Gaza. The old days are gone. A few months ago, Time magazine, published a story about how little Israelis, especially Tel Avivians, don't care about the peace process. [here] Or was it about the state of the Palestinian people? At first some Israeli publications were furious at Time magazine and that observation of what Israelis care about. Time magazine showed people on Tel Aviv's beach. They interviewed them on the peace issue: it turned out not at the top three things on people's minds. People cared much more about their economic well being, the local environment in Tel Aviv (roads, parks and schools) and a bit about how the government take care of issues related to everyday life. Another issue that disturbed Time magazine is how little do Israelis care about international media and Israel's image. My observation: welcome to the changing reality in Israel. After hoping for peace for sixty years and three generations, Israelis are just happy to be safe and have a good life. Would you blame a Parisian or a Berliner for that? How about a New Yorker or a mid-westerner? 

Can this status quo change? Of course it can. It changes every day, now with Obama making an effort to give the peace negotiations another spin, Israelis are paying a little attention (again). Yet not enough. NEXT: a few opinions of the man in the street.