Demographics

The population of Israel (7.5 million) is approximately 75% Jewish, 20% Arabs, 5% others.  Arabs are mostly Muslim, but also include Christians and Druze.

Of the Jewish population, about 8% are Ultra Orthodox (Haredi.)  Another 12% consider themselves “religious.”  And another 13% consider themselves “traditional religious”

The remaining 67% consider themselves either “traditional” or "secular" meaning they don’t actively participate in religion.  So the vast majority of Israelis are not highly religious or even religious at all.

Population Shift

There is a big shift in population.  In 1950 about 90% were Jewish.  Today it is about 75%.  As the Arab population continues to expand family sizes at a much faster rate than Israelis, it is likely Arabs will eventually constitute the majority.  This is why it is so critical to arrive at some sort of 2-state solution in order to preserve peaceful coexistence, security, and cultural identities for both Jews and Arabs.

Political System

The Political system is a mess.  As opposed to our 2-party system, there are over 30 parties in Israel, and over a dozen of them currently hold seats in the parliament (Knesset).  So whichever party gets the most votes needs to form coalitions with enough other parties to get over 50% of the seats in order to form a government.  Unfortunately this means bringing on board some religious extremist and fundamentalist parties that demand adherence to hard line approaches both within Israel as well as with the Palestinians, and refuse to make any concessions towards peace.

What is most disturbing is that the ultra Orthodox (Haredi) birth rate far exceeds that of the general population, and while they constitute about 8% of the total now, in another ten years that may double, and by the year 2050 they are projected by one source to be about 50% of the Jewish population (and then will be able to totally control the policies of the State.  Having 10 children in a family is not uncommon.)

What makes the situation even worse is that the Haredi are exempt from army duty and also get a stipend from the government to study the bible rather than work.  Less than half of Haredi men seek work and more than half the families are below poverty level.  Their views are narrow and racist, and compromise is not in their vocabulary.  They do not recognize Reform Jews or other non-orthodox as being Jewish. Most Israelis are in severe conflict with this growing minority of extremists, and the situation is a subject of continual hot debate by the general population.  These continued policies will lead to disaster.

Currently, Benjamin Netanyahu leads the government with the Likud Party (Right Wing) and has been taking a very hard line approach towards peace.

Tzipi Livni is his biggest challenger and she leads the Kadima Party (Left Wing), and has been very outspoken in her opposition to Netanyahu.

The Palestinian Question

It’s obvious that compromise needs to be made on both sides.  Since the walls have been put up, the suicide bombings have stopped.  That was the main objective – to protect the security of Israelis and so far this has been accomplished.  On the other hand, the walls have severely restricted movement of Palestinians to come into Israel to work, travel, or visit family.  More than half of Palestinians are without work, and have poor living conditions.  Palestinians claim they are being “occupied” by Israel and have no freedoms. The Israeli Orthodox religious extremists and “settlers” claim that the land belongs to them, and them alone, and are unmovable in their intention to stay put in land on the west bank that would logically make for a peaceful Arab State.  The current Israeli government is taking a hard-line and heavy-handed approach to assuring that its security is maintained, and is being severely criticized world-wide for the reports of alleged abusive practices.

One of Israel’s contentions is that they forcibly moved Jewish settlers out of Gaza, abandoned their property, and gave back the entire Gaza Strip back to the Palestinian authority with the intention of having peace.  Instead Hamas now rules the land and has expressed the goal of destroying all Jews in Israel, and continues to send rockets over.  So Israel is in no hurry to do the same in the West Bank without the solid assurance of security and peace.

What’s Next?

There are excellent arguments on both sides of the issues, and I’m hoping that on our trip we will be able to get a “fair and balanced” sense of what’s going on and the outlook for the future.