If the Arab Israeli public wants to integrate, why does it continue voting for MKs who reject the very legitimacy of Israel as the nation-state of the Jews? Why do they elect MKs that sympathize with its enemies and their war on the Jewish state?
This posture has become a very important part of Arab political culture. This approach to Israel has failed the Arabs in this region time and again and explains a big part of their current state of affairs. It also explains why the Palestinian national movement has been in such dire straits. At the root of this failure lies the twisted notion of tribal honor.
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Honor is a crucial part of private, public and national life. Without a commitment to this value, it would hard to explain a great deal of why some act, as individuals or as groups. In many cases, this value explains how people survive in the face of oppression, neglect, war, and deprivation.
Honor, and the notion that the Jewish people can take charge of its own destiny, is what lies at the heart of the Zionist value system. It explains, to a large extent, why Zionism has been so successful.
But every positive value can also be a liability if it is distorted and becomes a fake facade. The Arab national movements of the past 100 years have failed largely because they took this value in its distorted fashion, and the Palestinians took this distortion to new heights.
A society that breaks free from colonialism and focuses its resources on creating a better future for its sons and daughters should be commended for its accomplishments and respected for pursuing that course.
But societies that chose to ignore freedom, personal welfare, education, health care and social solidarity, opting instead to channel their resources to oppress the people and engage in corruption, tribal warfare and anti-Western rhetoric, will not get respect from the international community.
Among the countries that meet the first type are Israel, India, and Singapore. Countries that meet the second type include most of the Arab states and the Palestinians.
The Palestinian national movement has taken this twisted approach to a new extreme by consistently refusing to engage in nation-building and because it has stuck to leaders who have brought upon destruction in the name of "national honor" and "steadfastness."
These leaders have embraced the honor of the "martyrs" who blow up busses instead of looking up to real exemplary idols.
The Palestinians' brethren inside Israel have also become addicted to leaders who offer "honor" and pride, figures who champion the value of "steadfastness in the name of absolute Palestinian justice" and tout the need to fight the "primordial sin of the Zionist encroachment" and promise the "Right of Return" that would bring an end of the country's Jewish character. They want leaders who idolize martyrs.
Maybe Arab Israeli voters do not really want to destroy the country that has given them such great quality of life, but like all junkies, many of them might no longer have control: They know they are doing something that harms them – but they're still hooked.
