This week, after a short conversation with a Jewish guy at Tel Aviv University, a token fell to me.
In his opinion, the main problem is that the Jewish people in Israel have not yet decided which country they want.
His words amazed me, because as an Arab-Palestinian citizen of Israel, I thought I was the one who was swinging between two identities - created with the establishment of the state and the flight of the masses of Palestinians to the Diaspora on the one hand, and parts of them remaining in Israel on the other.
In a moment, our identity as Palestinians became more complex as Israeli citizens.
Most of us managed to deal with the identity, which was torn between belonging to the Palestinian people and belonging to Israeli citizenship, and we made great efforts to integrate into the country.
Integration that ranges from success, as in higher education, to failure, as in employment, with a low employment rate compared to the general population (about 20%).
Compared to the Palestinian-Israeli identity dilemma, the Israeli-Jewish identity dilemma surprised me.
Yes, the Jewish people have a state that was defined according to the Declaration of Independence as Jewish and democratic.
The same people - who historically fought to preserve their religion in Europe and influenced the world's economy, but fell into a world war and a terrible holocaust - finally established a state, even if creating a bloody conflict with the Palestinians.
I did not internalize that the Jew in Israel has not yet decided what he wants his country to look like.
A country of Jews only?
of seculars only?
Halacha state?
A binational state?
A state of all its citizens?
These are questions that form the basis of the internal struggle of the Jewish people in Israel, the main of which is currently against the legal coup that is taking place these days, and which illustrates the problem of identity, labeled by three sides of a right triangle:
The rest - many Jews who have no problem with an undemocratic state here with majority rule, which will be based on the growing ultra-Orthodox religious section.
The base - another part of the nation that is in the minority, but is the majority in its contribution to the economy, and is fighting to preserve the secular identity of its country and the separation of authorities.
And the height - the religious-national part, which fights in any way, legal or illegal, for complete control over all parts of the country, and is ready for this to make the country undemocratic and to eliminate anyone who gets in the way.
Within this triangle, we, the Arabs, are in a struggle for survival, until the identity of the Jewish state is decided.
Fighting for equal rights and against racism, fighting for a good livelihood and a good education, fighting for a life without murderous violence which is based on a poor socio-economic situation.
Struggle, but always remain confined in the middle between the three sides of the triangle of the Jewish people, who have not yet determined the identity of their state.
Struggling and wondering if we still have a chance to become a fourth side - as a company that contributes a lot to the country's economy, education and culture, and can only bring good to the country, instead of endless struggles.
As someone who had the privilege of recently winning the Mayor of Tel Aviv-Jaffa's signal for social involvement, I claim that it is time to let Arab society become this rib - without asking it to give up its historical Palestinian identity, and the natural and human sense of identification with the rest of the Palestinian people, who suffer a lot.
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