Although Palestinian Arabs in Israel represent one-fifth of the doctors and a quarter of the nurses, they have until recently been very marginalized, but this marginalization has begun to diminish at a time when Israel is beginning to feel the impact of the Coronavirus, as the Israeli government felt that it desperately needs them at least For now.

Zahi Saeed was driving his car toward the medical clinic he ran in Haifa when his phone rang, to let the spokesman on the other side tell him that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu wanted to meet him. The prime minister has watched the Arab doctor four times on TV, talking about the need for the government to communicate with Israeli Arabs about the dangers of the Corona virus, and Netanyahu wants some advice from him.

Refute myths

Saeed, who also advises one of Israel's largest Arab healthcare providers, diverted his car and went straight to Netanyahu's official residence in Jerusalem. Since then, Saeed has spent almost daily time on local TV, receiving questions from Arabic speakers, refuting myths about "Corona", and urging people to stay home to help break the chain of new injuries.

However, when asked if the Arab community in Israel could expect equal access to health care for the Coronavirus with the Jewish majority, Saeed provided a diplomatic answer. He told the Financial Times, "We know that it is not a secret that the resources in this country are not distributed evenly, but we must look at the bottle as half full. When I go to meet Netanyahu, this means that at least he listens to us."

Since Netanyahu first came to power in 1996, he has denounced Arab politicians as supporters of terrorism, stripped the Arabic language of its status as an official language, and last year passed a law granting only Jews the right to self-determination in the state of Israel. Now in the midst of the battle against the Corona Virus, he needs them to help him.

Arabs make up only a fifth of the population of Israel, but they represent half of the country's pharmacists, a quarter of nurses, and just under a fifth of its doctors, according to the Central Bureau of Statistics. Some of the largest hospitals in the country include Arab doctors who head the main departments, and the most prominent virus scientist in the country is Arab.

Political marginalization

Palestinian doctors say they are disproportionately represented in the medical community, because obtaining professional qualifications was one of the reasons for political marginalization. Many doctors were trained in Jordan after the two countries signed a peace agreement in 1994, and the Arab community in Israel still treats medical workers with great respect. Saeed commented jokingly about this: “The Polish Jewish mother wanted her son to be a doctor, but now she wants him to get a technical job, while the Arab mother still wants her children to practice the medical profession.”

In Kafr Qara, the Arab town south of Haifa, there are so many professional doctors that its residents call it the city of doctors, the most famous of whom is Jamil Mohsen. Jameel has established a ward to deal with people infected with the Coronavirus at the Helvet Evi Medical Center, where he heads the Infectious Diseases Division. "Being Arabs has denied us many other jobs, so we have become doctors," he says.

Claims

Israel is seeking to rely on its Arab doctors at a time when the virus is increasing rapidly in ultra-Orthodox societies. By contrast, despite Netanyahu and his right-wing political allies ’claims that Arabs ignore health directives, none of the Arab-majority cities, even the densely populated neighborhoods of East Jerusalem, has experienced major outbreaks.

Not a new beginning

But for pediatrician Osama Tannous, 34, who cites the Indian left-wing Arundhati Roy as his inspiration, quotes the words of the 19th-century German pathologist, Rudolf Virchow, in his analysis, the sudden dependence on Arab doctors does not herald a new beginning for equality Between Arab and Israeli doctors. Instead, he says, it will be used to justify continued bias.

He said, "Israel has a way to celebrate good Arab doctors, with discrimination against all other Arabs, so that doctors become ambassadors of the system that Israel devised to coexist," referring to a wave of recent articles in Israeli newspapers praising Arab doctors. "It seems that we now have Arab doctors who save the lives of Jews and help Israel in a time of national crises, so it is time to stop racism against them - this is a very slippery and dangerous idea," he denounces. Hani Dawood, the president of the Pharmacists Syndicate, which represents about 300 pharmacies in the mainly Arab north of Israel, says that the work of Arab doctors has so far certainly not promised their societies any immediate benefits.

Israel is seeking to rely on its Arab doctors at a time when the virus is increasing rapidly in ultra-Orthodox societies.

Despite claims by Netanyahu and his right-wing political allies that Arabs are ignoring health directives, none of the Arab-majority cities, even the densely populated neighborhoods of East Jerusalem, has experienced major outbreaks.