Democratic Palestine : 21 (ص 18)
غرض
- عنوان
- Democratic Palestine : 21 (ص 18)
- المحتوى
-
are always «morphine injections» - promises and small pay-
ments. In 1986, the local councils declared a general strike that
lasted the first seventeen days of July. The strike was suspended
after the government declared readiness to increase the 1986
budget by 11 million shekels; this was then raised to 20 million
shekels on the insistence of the local Arab councils. The
government also decided to increase the development budget of
the Arab councils by 65 million shekels. This occurred on the
condition that the councils increase their local tax revenues by
4.5 million shekels, which would increase the hardships on the
Palestinian residents. This was the first time the authorities have
submitted to demands to increase both the general and deve-
lopment budgets, although the councils have long struggled for
this. The Arab councils still demand that the government lay
down a plan that would equalize the budgets of Arab and Jewish
councils in relation to the size of the population they serve.
To the extent that the Arab councils have succeeded in
carrying Out projects and programs, this occurred through aid
from charity societies, collection campaigns and organizing
voluntary work camps, where delegates from the occupied West
Bank and Gaza Strip participate, along with supporters of the
Palestinian struggle from other countries. This has saved the
councils millions of dollars.
>
4, EDUCATION POLICY
The Zionist entity has continued the stultification policy pre-
viously enacted by the Ottoman and British occupations. This is
manifest in a gross shortage of Arabic schools at all levels - nur-
series, kindergartens, elementary and vocational schools. In
addition, there is a lack of laboratories and iibraries. In 1982, an
Israeli committee was formed to study the conditions of Arabic
education, headed by Emanuel Kapolovitch. It issued a report
in 1984 which, among other things, stated: «At the end of the
1982-83 school year, the school shortages in the Arab domain
reached 600 classrooms, and 600 departmental and laboratory
rooms. There is a need for 1,200 rooms for kindergartens. To
expand vocational education, there is a need for an additional
800 rooms. There is a big number of classrooms that are rented,
very small, unfit and overcrowded... Health conditions in the
schools are difficult. There are no doctors or even nurses. The
Arab schools lack the most important basic facilities like ser-
vices, drinking water and water for washing... We are not talk-
ing about luxuries, but describing very bad health conditions
which constitute a great danger by facilitating the spread of
intestinal diseases.»
Things don’t stop here, for the Arabic curriculum has been
distorted in a manner that serves Zionist goals. This is especially
true of the history books which concentrate on Zionist history
and mention only a fraction of Arab history and even then from
a Zionist viewpoint.
In the Naqab, there were only four schools in 1960 with a total
of seven teachers. By the 1967-68 school year, this had increased
to 36 teachers for 15 schools and 45 classes. Until 1961, instruc-
tion ended with the fifth grade; in that year, a sixth grade was
added, and in the seventies, a secondary school was opened. On
October 17, 1984, Haaretz reported on educational conditions
in the Naqab: «The preparatory school buildings don’t have
indoor toilet facilities... Some windows haven’t been fixed for
18
years... There are no gardens near the schools... It is easily said
that educational buildings of this standard are a shame on
Israel.»
In the field of higher education, the number of Palestinian
Arab graduates between 1950 and 1960 was 100. From 1960 to
1970, about 300 graduated. Despite the relative increase in the
number of Palestinian Arab graduates in succeeding years, a
high percentage of them don’t get work in their field of study,
because the doors of government institutions and departments
are closed in their faces. Palestinians university students face
problems on a daily basis, ranging from insults to expulsion and
deprivation of union representation. Still, there are many
committees and unions for university students, which are not
recognized by the university administration. Palestinian also
face high tuition fees as compared to those paid by Jewish stu-
dents whose fees are reduced in accordance with their term of
military service. (Jewish students do military service before
entering the university.)
5S. HEALTH POLICY
In this field we will suffice with a quick look at the bad health
conditions and intentional negligence, as documented in the
report of the first Arab Health Conference, held in Nazareth on
April 12, 1986, and published in Al Jttrhad newspaper of
Rakah:
- Among Palestinian Arabs, the average infant mortality rate
is double that among Jews.
- Among Palestinians, three times more children die of un-
known causes than among Jews.
- 80% of Palestinian Arab citizens live in areas where there is
no sewage system.
- There is 33% leakage in pipes in the Palestinian Arab
domain, due to corrosion, as compared to 10% in the Jewish
domain. Such problems lead to water pollution and the spread
of intestinal diseases and poisoning.
- The number of Palestinian Arab Histadrut members (and
their families) benefitting from health insurance is 437,500
(13.7%); the number of Histradrut health insurance clinics in
the Arab domain is 101 out of a total of 1,274 clinics. None of
the 46 regional clinics are in the Arab domain.
- The percentage of health personnel in the Palestinian Arab
domain is 3.8% and of doctors, 2%; while there are no dentists
and dental clinics.
- While a doctor in the Jewish domain treats 1,800 cases, a
doctor in the Palestinian Arab domain treats 2,900.
- In the administrative staff of the Histadrut’s health insu-
rance service, there are no Palestinian Arab employees.
- First aid centers do not exist in the Palestinian Arab areas.
- There are only three ambulances of the Histadrut’s health
insurance service available to Palestinian Arabs.
- Night medical care is available only in main cities, not in vil-
lages.
- Doctors in the Palestinian Arab sector work 90 hours
weekly, while those in the Jewish sector work 177 hours.
- The Israeli budget for medical services is 3.8 million new
shekels, of which the Arab domain receives 2.28 % .*
- There are no schools or institutions for handicapped or
retarded children in the Palestinian Arab sector.
Moreover, there is no health program for schools in the
Palestinian Arab sector. There are the problems of overcrowd-
ing, unhealthy housing and insufficient sanitary services, etc. If
an Israeli medicine factory makes a mistake, this is brought to
the attention of the public in the Hebrew press, but notin Arabic
newspapers. Even if a Palestinian citizen is covered by health
insurance, the medical care which he/she receives is dependent
on the doctor’s racist thinking and mood. In early October
1985, 20,000 Palestinians in the Naqab collected their health
insurance cards to return them, as a protest against the bad
health conditions.
6. ECONOMIC POLICY
The Palestinian Arab citizen is the first to suffer from Israeli
economic policy. Taxes are high. Exemptions and aid provided
by the government to Jews and large families are conditional on
* 1000 old shekels = | new shekel - هو جزء من
- Democratic Palestine : 21
- تاريخ
- يناير ١٩٨٧
- المنشئ
- الجبهة الشعبية لتحرير فلسطين
Contribute
Not viewed