Baker Institute for Public Policy Hosts Mohammad Darawshe - Houston, TX

Ambassador David Satterfield, Director, Baker Institute for Public Policy, Rice University, and Mohammad Darawshe, Director of Strategy, Givat Haviva, engaged in a one-hour conversation on Israel, Arab Israelis, Palestinians: What Is Their Future Together? The well attended November 19^th session is part of the Baker Institute's regular briefing events.

“Arab Israeli citizens will play a role in the country’s present and the country’s future,” said Satterfield when introducing Darawshe.

Darawshe talked about the challenges and opportunities for Israel’s Arab citizens. He gave examples of what he calls “islands of success," where the numbers of Arab citizens attending Israeli colleges and universities, or working in health care or hi-tech, have increased significantly in recent years. Another “island of success,” says Darawshe, is the rise in the number of employed Arab women in Israel. “Building an Arab middle class will be good” for Arab society and Israel, he adds.  

Still, “the legitimacy to be equal citizens,” to achieve political and social equality as promised in Israel’s Declaration of Independence remains an aspiration for Arab, as well as, Jewish citizens, he points out.

He explained that October 7^th had an impact on Jewish-Arab relations in Israel, at first shared victimhood, shared destiny, but after a few months the course of the war led to heightened levels of distrust between Jewish and Arab citizens.

Darawshe also explained why the term “shared society,” which he introduced 25 years ago, is preferable to coexistence.