Tarabut is a joint Arab-Jewish social movement seeking to address the most burning issue – the division in Israeli oppositional politics between struggles against the occupation and struggles against inequality and for social justice within Israel itself. Its members come from very different backgrounds: long-time activists against the occupation, activists involved in projects against unequal acc
ess to education, Arab activists involved in campaigns for empowerment and equal rights for the Arab minority within Israel, experienced activists against the exploitation and discrimination of oriental Jews and the delegitimation of Arab culture, young refuseniks, feminists involved in local campaigns for women’s empowerment, students involved in campaigns to defend public higher education against creeping privatization, and so on. All of us have felt that activism requires a broader vision and grounding in concrete analysis of the links between different forms of inequality – for example, between the expansion of the settlements in the West Bank and rampant privatization within Israel, which has drawn tens of thousands from among the poor into the colonial process in the West Bank and to enjoy government subsidies in urban settlements. Tarabut seeks to build a non-dogmatic context for thinking from practice, for forging alliances that bring together the dispossessed and the oppressed in Israel through involvement in social struggles. Hence the name (‘come together’ ‘associate’ in Hebrew and Arabic): Ad-hoc coalitions can hardly withstand the enormous pressures and daily racism in Israeli society. We seek to bring together people, not organizations, to think together without dogmatic certainties, and to work for social change. Tarabut was formed in October 2006, in the aftermath of the campaign against the War in Lebanon of the summer and has several hundred active members. It has been active in several campaigns, such as
* Against house demolitions and discrimination of Arab residents of Wadi Ara
* In the general students' strike in Israeli universities
* Against the eviction and dispossession of poor inhabitants of Tel Aviv’s popular neighborhoods in the interests of real-estate developers – and that of the Arab residents of Jaffa, which faced a combined campaign of gentrification with nationalist discrimination
* In labor struggles over the recognition of local unions in unorganized branches
* In organizing the protests against the war on Gaza (December 2008 – January 2009)
* Iin the campaign against the deportation of migrant workers and refugees (Summer 2009)
At the same time, Tarabut has sought to bring new ideas and analysis to public discussion. We have warned that the Annapolis summit did not spell peace for Israelis and Palestinians but an attempt to consolidate American hegemony and an exacerbation of divisions among Palestinians and imposing Israeli demands on the Palestinian leaders. We have urged the Israeli left to support the demand of the Arab minority for full equality – including recognition of its collective rights, and to realize that the democratization of Israeli society demanded by the representatives of the Arab minority is in the interest of all underprivileged groups in Israel. We cannot submit our political project to the logic of NGOization. Yet, if social engagement is not to remain the privilege of the few, we need some funds. If you would like to help us financially, please make checks payable to "Chiburim le-Peula Meshutefet" and send to Tarabut, P.O. Box 39724, Tel Aviv 61397; transfer donations to "Chiburim le-Peula Meshutefet", Bank HaPoalim, Einstein Branch (no. 778), Account no. 436411 (12-778-436411), IBAN: IL02-0127-7800-0000-0436-411, Swift code: poalilit.
