Timmy Dooley (Clare, Fianna Fail)
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I welcome the opportunity to raise this matter alongside my colleague, Deputy Dowds. Recently, we visited Israel with a group of European parliamentarians on the invitation of the Council for European Palestinian Relations, CEPR, which is working within the EU to further the aims and ambitions of the Arab community in the context of Israel. Our visit was meant to show us at first hand the experience of the minority Arab Israeli population living in Israel. It is actually wrong to call it a minority, as its members represent approximately 20% of Israel's population. As an indigenous people, they were there before the establishment of the state of Israel and would claim pre-establishment rights.

Often, these people are overlooked in the debate on Israel, its nearest neighbours and the conflict in the Gaza strip and the West Bank. Life is difficult for this large cohort. We met them, their representatives and advocates, lawyers, professionals, university professors and human rights workers. From the information provided to us and the direct information we gathered ourselves, it is clear that this cohort of Israel's population is treated differently from the country's Jewish population. There is a higher level of unemployment, poor rural transport and a lack of education. We saw at least one school that was in an appalling condition by anyone's estimation. Its students were educated in a way that differed greatly from the way the Jewish population was educated. Their housing is of a poorer quality and they are prevented from living normally.

The Irish Government must take cognisance of the information that has been provided. In its role within the EU, it must raise the issue of Israel's indigenous Arab population. As the Minister of State, Deputy McGinley, knows, the EU has a neighbourhood agreement with Israel. This is the route through which the EU can exercise its muscles and force the Israeli Administration to give due recognition and equal treatment to its Arab citizens within its borders.

Robert Dowds (Dublin Mid West, Labour)
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I agree with Deputy Dooley's remarks. Apart from us, the delegation included two parliamentarians from Britain - a Scottish Labour MEP and a Liberal Democrat Member of the House of Lords - as well as a Belgian senator and a Lithuanian Liberal Democratic MEP, the son of a Holocaust survivor.

I wish to focus on the second day of our trip when we visited the Bedouin community south of Beersheba in the Negev Desert. Even though its members are citizens, they are only second class citizens. Despite the fact that many Bedouins serve in the Israeli army, we encountered the imposition of awful conditions. For example, villages appeared to be unrecognised by their local authorities, meaning that they were not connected to electricity supplies and other public utilities and needed to provide their own energy via solar panels outside their tents or shacks. There was evidence of Bedouin villages being repeatedly knocked down. We were told of one example of a village being knocked down more than 20 times. We were presented with evidence of Israeli authorities restricting Bedouins to living in certain limited parts of the Negev Desert.

There were serious allegations that Bedouin olive groves were being destroyed and replaced by eucalyptus trees. This was presented by the Israeli authorities as a way of preventing desertification but in reality it removes the Bedouins' olive groves and grazing land.

As Deputy Dooley noted, this is a small aspect of the whole problem that exists between the Israelis and the Arab population, but the Israeli authorities should be reminded that they need to address it. There are potentially very serious consequences for the region. I ask the Minister of State to make representations to the Israeli Government to ensure its citizens are treated equally, even those of an Arab or Palestinian background.

Dinny McGinley (Donegal South West, Fine Gael)
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I thank both Deputies for raising this matter. In 2010 the population of Israel was recorded as 7.78 million, of whom 75% were Jewish. These figures are inclusive of areas of East Jerusalem and the Golan, whose annexation is not accepted internationally. Some 1.6 million were Arabs, amounting to 20.4% of population, the great majority of whom are full Israeli citizens. A total of 44% of the Israeli Arab population live in the Northern District, including Nazareth and adjoining areas, where they form a slight majority of the population. Another 190,000 Arabs are Bedouin living in the Negev Desert in the south. Only about 120,000 live in the major Israeli cities in the central belt. Arab Israelis are mostly Muslim, with about 10% Christians. I do not include in this analysis the 200,000 or more Arabs in East Jerusalem, who are not for the most part Israeli citizens and who are not considered by us to be living in Israel. They are, one might say, part of a different problem, one which we address frequently in this House. I am not addressing here Ireland's strong criticisms of Israel's policies in the occupied Palestinian territories.

Arab Israelis are full citizens of Israel and are accorded full equality by the basic laws of the state, which form the constitution. In their ability to vote for their government in a genuine democracy, in personal security, freedom of expression and assembly, and protection under the law, especially for women, their situation compares favourably with ordinary citizens, even those in majority populations in other countries in the region, and especially so with members of ethnic and religious minorities. Israeli Arabs are more prosperous and enjoy better access to education, health care and other state services than populations of most neighbouring Arab states. This is not the full story, of course. Arab Israelis judge their circumstances not against those of people in other countries but against the standards enjoyed by the majority community in Israel. By those criteria Arab Israelis are more clearly seen as a minority that has remained disadvantaged and marginalised for a variety of reasons.

For much of Israel's history, for reasons to do with the wider conflict, many Israelis regarded Arab citizens in their midst with considerable suspicion. Arab Israelis have also encountered measures which discriminate in favour of Jewish citizens in areas such as access to land or in employment, where having served in the armed forces will often constitute an advantage which Arab Israelis, who are exempted from compulsory military service, will not enjoy. In addition, as all governments have found, poverty, marginalisation and disadvantage reinforce each other in a vicious circle which is difficult to break. It is exacerbated in this case, as in many states, by the concentration of economic activity and opportunity in the major cities where few Arab Israelis live.

The results of these factors are that Arab Israelis are markedly worse off than Jewish Israelis in terms of incomes, employment, education, housing, and access to land. There are specific additional problems for the Bedouins, some 60,000 of whom live in unrecognised villages in the Negev Desert, subject in many cases to eviction and displacement, in some cases with the intention of favouring incoming Jewish Israelis.

Many Jewish Israelis, particularly in recent years, have recognised this as a serious imbalance to be addressed as a priority. There have been a number of government reports and initiatives, such as the recommendations of the Or Commission in 2003, and the establishment in 2008 of an Equal Employment Opportunities Commission, which has been mentored to an extent by the Equality Commission of Northern Ireland. President Peres has personally led efforts to address issues of access to employment for Arab Israelis. Regrettably, some more extreme nationalist Israeli leaders continue to regard Arab Israelis with suspicion or hostility and actively promote discriminatory measures.

These are all real problems and human rights issues, familiar in many states, including in Europe. They are raised by Ireland and our EU partners in our relationship with the Israeli authorities, using the guidelines in the EU human rights strategy, in the same way as the EU addresses similar problems in its relations with other states, especially those with which we have association agreements. The EU sees this as a critical and consistent element of our dialogue with Israel and with all states.

There is a real danger, implicit in the terms of the debate we are having here today, that we will be accused of focusing on these issues only because the state involved is Israel. If we were to focus on populations under threat in the Middle East, even leaving aside the massive violence in Syria, we would not start with Arab Israelis. Our major concern with the Israeli authorities cannot be this issue. Rather, it is the position and freedom of the Palestinian population under occupation beyond the Green Line.

Jack Wall (Kildare South, Labour)
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We have gone over time on this matter. Is Deputy Dowds satisfied?

Robert Dowds (Dublin Mid West, Labour)
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I have one brief comment. I agree with the Minister of State that this is not the major issue in the Middle East, but because it was brought to the attention of Deputy Dooley and myself, we felt obliged to raise it. There is a very important message for the Israeli authorities here. If they treated their own citizens well, that would flag Israel as a vastly superior state compared with, say, the dysfunctional nature of a country like Syria. It is really important in Israel's interest, never mind that of the Arab community, that it treat the minorities within its borders properly.

Jack Wall (Kildare South, Labour)
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Does the Minister of State wish to reply?

Dinny McGinley (Donegal South West, Fine Gael)
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Very briefly. The problems of Arabs and Israelis raised by the Deputies are real and are being addressed by the EU. As a member of the EU, Ireland has dialogue with the Israeli authorities, just as we do with other states in the region. The Irish Embassy in Tel Aviv has been particularly active in focusing attention on these issues within the EU group there. Again, I thank the Deputies for raising the matter.