BOB ABERNETHY: It's been 50 years since Israel officially became a state on May 14, 1948. As we reported, Israel kicked off a year of jubilee celebrations two weeks ago, coinciding with the anniversary on the Jewish calendar. This week Palestinian supporters around the world marked the date with prayer vigils, including one in Washington, DC, and with demonstrations, such as this protest in the Gaza Strip, which turned violent.In the last of his three-part series, correspondent Paul Miller looks at how non-Jewish citizens of Israel are viewing the anniversary.
PAUL MILLER: Israel's Arabs celebrate weddings, but not many of them celebrated the anniversary of events that wedded them to Israel. In the war after Israel declared its independence, many of their relatives fled the country. Four hundred of their villages were taken away. Those who stayed are ambivalent about being both Arab and Israeli. They are citizens of Israel, have the right to vote, and have representation in the Knesset, or Parliament. But one of their Knesset members says they do not have equality.AZMI BISHARA (Knesset Member): The treatment of the smallest degree to the normal citizen -- it's different if he is a Jew or Arab. So that, of course, discrimination colors everything in Israel.
MILLER: Most of the one million Arab Israelis live in the north of the country, in villages in the hills near Nazareth and in the area around the Sea of Galilee. There, in the places where Jesus ministered, such as Capernium, the Arabs are Christians. Christians make up three percent of Israel's population, Muslims 15 percent. The Arabs say it's not their religion that sets them apart from other Israelis, it's the fact that they are thought of and think of themselves as Palestinian. They complain their villages do not receive the same services as Jewish areas. The schools are not as good, they say; the roads are unpaved; water and sewage treatment are unreliable. Many Jewish Israelis agree.
Professor MOSHE HALBERTAL (Hebrew University & Hartman Institute): In the legal system, Arab Israelis are granted full equality, but this is not completely manifested in the way that bureaucracy and other branches of the state deals with that population in terms of distribution of resources.MILLER: Even so, Professor Halbertal says Israel's treatment of the Arabs is exemplary, considering that Israel has been fighting most of the Arab world for 50 years.
DAVID BAR-ILAN (Government Spokesman): In a country still in the state of war, there must be certain rights and privileges accorded to those who serve in the army as against those who don't.
ADEL KAADAN: I gave the state of Israel my dues, and it has not given me my rights. And that's the difference. They still think I should not be allowed to be independent. They won't let me feel as though I belong to the state. Is this a state of Jews or all the citizens?
In Nazareth, there's been a fight over plans to build a mosque next to the Basilica of the Annunciation. The mosque would be built right where an earlier one stood, but some Christians are unhappy about it and it has not received final approval. And there are reports of violence between the communities in some of the surrounding villages. It is not something Christians or Muslims want to talk about. They would rather talk about what they can agree on: their grievances against Israel, a country they say is a democracy only for its Jewish citizens. I'm Paul Miller in Nazareth.
