Leaders Call Efforts To Reduce Fatal Crashes In Arab Sector ‘Cultural Imperialism’

NGOs also characterized the programs as impinging on the community’s identity as victim by implying that Arabs might possess volition, a notion that strikes at the very heart of modern Arab identity.

Tayibe, March 22 – Prominent figures in Israel’s Arab community are decrying initiatives to cut traffic fatalities among its members, deeming such programs a violation of Arab cultural norms and an attempt to impose foreign values.

Political, social, and cultural leaders among Arab citizens of Israel have reacted with coldness to government and private attempts to inculcate safer driving practices, programs that aim to address the disproportionate numbers of Arabs killed in vehicular crashes. Any such programs, they contend, constitute a forcing upon Arab society a set of sensibilities incompatible with the community’s traditional way of life, and yet another example of Zionist imperialism.

Tribal heads of Bedouin groups, a dozen civil society organizations, and supporting NGOs such as the New Israel Fund held a rally in this town yesterday, calling on the government to put a stop to programs aimed at cutting traffic fatalities, especially those aimed at the Arab sector, and to allow the community to maintain its traditional disregard for human life. Representatives of the participating NGOs also characterized the programs as impinging on the community’s identity as victim by implying that Arabs might possess volition, a notion that strikes at the very heart of modern Arab identity.

“We will not tolerate this cultural imperialism, and we will not permit it to undermine the justice of this community’s demand to escape blame for any of its misfortune,” stated Ghimmi Monni of Adala, a rights group. “The only appropriate responses to the fatality statistics are either to respect that our culture of machismo comes with certain risks to life and limb, or to accept that all the blame and responsibility lie with the State, which must fund infrastructure projects to make thousands of kilometers of roads more idiot-proof.”

Either way, noted New Israel Fund Executive Director Rachel Liel, the reaction of the community would be negative, as is their prerogative. “We support our Palestinian citizens’ right to determine their own cultural standards,” she explained. “The means if the State tries to impose an alien culture of caring too much about human life when honor and convenience are at stake, the cry must go up against cultural imperialism. Whereas is the State decides against such intervention, owing to the social sensitivities I just mentioned, the community has every right to lambaste the State for neglecting the lives and welfare of Arab citizens. What actually happens is irrelevant to us – either way we get anti-Zionist propaganda out of the bargain. It’s win-win as far as we’re concerned.”

Please support our work through Patreon.