Israel’s dangerous surroundings and need to retain a Jewish majority presents it
with immigration problems wholly unique to the developed world, Hebrew
University professor, Metzilah think tank president and former Supreme Court
nominee Ruth Gavison said on Thursday.
“Israel is the only country in the
developed world that shares land borders with so many poor, insecure and violent
countries. Therefore, the strategic problems of Israel in terms of
immigration are different than those of England, Europe and the US,” said
Gavison, who will take part in the “Immigration and the Future of the
Nation-State” conference – organized by the Israel Democracy Institute and
Metzilah – next week, joined by Tel Aviv University Prof. Anita
Shapira.
The conference will cover issues of nation-building, immigration
law, citizenship tests and integration, and comparison of immigration policies
from around the world.
While the conference will have a global viewpoint,
immigration issues particular to Israel, including the country’s African migrant
population, were discussed in the interview with the two
professors.
Shapira said the issue is split between those in south Tel
Aviv who feel abandoned by the government and forced to absorb the migrant
population, and those in north Tel Aviv and elsewhere who blame the government
for not showing enough compassion toward the migrants, adding that both sides
are right.
Gavison said of the matter that the problem is caused by a
“critical mass of people in proportion to the communities. What usually happens
is that people without legal status, without the ability to legally work, enter
the weaker parts of the society and the weaker parts are incapable of moving out
because they don’t have resources to do so. So you’re seeing a very dense
population of desperate people with no legal status living amongst people who
are weak and cannot move away.”
When asked if Israel can remain a
nation-state with a unique sense of “Israeliness” even as the non-Jewish
population continues to grow, Shapira replied, “Of course there is non-Jewish
‘Israeliness’ – Arab Israelis are part of the cultural makeup of Israel despite
that they aren’t Jews. This doesn’t mean that we want for the Jewish majority to
be diluted, because this majority is the reason we founded this place, so that
there would be one place where the Jews will feel a majority without
fear.”
Though Israel is often seen as a unique country and has some
unique problems in dealing with immigration, to Shapira, “we are part of an
international phenomenon that is going on worldwide – we are a democracy that is
trying to retain its culture while at the same time trying to not damage the
basic principles of democracy and human rights.”
“At the beginning of the
1990s, people talked about how globalization and multiculturalism would get rid
of the nation-state, today it’s obvious that these countries have all seen
backlash against this,” she added.