The Israeli Arab Higher Committee has begun a national campaign to warn Arab youth against being drafted into national service, sources said on Saturday.

According to leaders of local Arab councils and Arab members of Knesset, the national service is run by the Defense Ministry and therefore there was no place in its institution for Arab youth.

Balad Faction Chairman MK Jamal Zahalka insisted that any Arab who volunteered for national service will be considered "leprous" and the Arab society will "vomit him out."

In September, the AHC spoke out against a government intention to compel Arab citizens to complete the national service. It warned that the Arab community would initiate lectures around schools targeting students in an effort to mar [bar??] the youths from national service.

Last month, the committee said that the government move to compel Arab citizens to carry out national service conflicted with the Arab identity and would lead to an eventual attempt to draft Arabs into the army.

The article notes that at present, all of 560 Arab youth have volunteered for national service. So it is not just the leadership, but the rank and file, who are not enthusiastic about integrating into Isralei society. What is the justification for the notion that Arabs should not do national service because it is run by the Defense Ministry? Isn't it their defense ministry as well? In every poll, Israeli Arabs insist they would not like to be attached or transferred to a Palestinian Arab state. But without the IDF, we would all be "transferred" to a Palestinian Arab state. Perhaps it is justifiable for Arabs to object to military service that might force them to fight close relatives, but they can hardly object to national service that benefits all citizens.

Will the Arab who insists on his right to live in a Jewish town refuse to participate in national service? On what basis will the Arab who refuses national service insist that he must be entitled to buy a leasehold in JNF land?

It should be obvious that those who agitate for the "right" of Israeli Arabs to refuse to participate in national life are not helping the cause of democracy or integration, and are not serving the interests of Israel's Arab citizens. Nonetheless, I am sure there are those who will find excuses for this bizarre political program.

Ami Isseroff