Footballers lead way in Israeli-Arab relations

The victory of an Arab-owned soccer team in a prestigious Israeli competition has boosted the morale of hundreds of thousands of Israeli Arabs, but community leaders say they doubt it will tip the scale in their long-running battle for equality.

Bnei Sakhnin, a mixed Jewish-Arab team with the lowest budget in Israel’s 12-team top league, scored a decisive 4-1 win over Hapoel Haifa in the final of Israel’s State Cup, catapulting the team into Europe’s UEFA Cup next year, and sending tens of thousands of delirious fans into the streets in Arab towns and villages.

For Sakhnin, a community of 25,000 in northern Israel, the victory offered a rare chance to forget a bitter local history.

In 1976, two residents were killed by Israeli security forces while protesting land confiscation – an event still observed in annual protests throughout the Arab Israeli community – and in 2000 police shot and killed three local people at the start of the current round of Israeli-Palestinian violence.

Israeli Arabs make up about 20% of Israel’s population of 6.8 million. They have full Israeli citizenship but have long suffered from economic and political discrimination.

Aside from Haifa and three smaller cities, they live apart from Jews, in separate towns and neighbourhoods.

Sammy Smooha, a Haifa University expert on Israeli Arabs, said the Bnei Sakhnin victory had raised the community’s morale by making it feel more integrated into Israeli society.

“Particularly since the beginning of the Israeli-Palestinian fighting, Israeli Arabs have felt discriminated against, have felt bitterness and alienation from the state,” he said.

“What happened (in the game) allows them to feel closeness. They want to feel this closeness – it tells them they are part of the country.”

But Smooha cautioned that any hopes that Israeli Arabs would now be integrated into Israeli society were exaggerated.

“I don’t see that,” he said. “This is not a turning point.”

Lutfy Mashour, editor of the Arabic-language As Seenara weekly newspaper, said he doubted whether the victory would have any long-term significance for the standing of the Arab community in Israel.

“I don’t think this will influence the macro-situation,” he said. “It won’t open doors or close gaps. After all, this is only soccer.”

With a roster of 12 Israeli Arabs, seven Israeli Jews and four foreigners, Bnei Sakhnin boasted that it was one of the few places in Israel where Arab-Jewish coexistence was possible.

In the State Cup game, Jewish player Lior Asulin led the team with two goals, while the Arab captain, Abbas Sawan, was the first to lift the trophy to roars of approval from some 30,000 fans.