The strongest indication of this has been Government Resolution 922 (GR-922), an unprecedented five-year economic development plan for Arab society adopted in late 2015 (the planned sum total of monies allocated to assisting Israel’s minority population amounts to NIS 15 billion). Implementation of the plan has made significant inroads in diverse areas of Arab life, including: employment, education, community safety, infrastructure and transportation.

Employment constitutes one of the key areas to guarantee progress.

Between 2016-19, the Government invested NIS 678 million to advance the economy and employment of the Arab community. In this framework, more than 21,000 Arab citizens participated in training centers and were subsequently found employment. Approximately 2,000 new jobs were added as part of an employer in​centive program, 20 business accelerators were created throughout the country and the establishment of four industrial centers in Arab towns are in advanced stages.

In high-tech alone, government subsidies for Arab employees have amounted to NIS 4 million. Hybrid, a high-tech accelerator, is among those working to promote startup initiatives.

Employment has risen steadily throughout this period. For example, male employment increased to 77.3% (from 75.4% in 2016) and female employment rose to 38.2% (from 31.5%) for ages 25-64. Furthermore, financing for the construction of 35 daycare centers has been allocated – also an important component in advancing employment figures going forward.

Concurrently, the Equal Employment Opportunities Commission is working to combat discrimination in the workplace. Unfortunately, the coronavirus crisis is threatening progress made since 2016.

Data recently published by the Israeli Employment Service indicates that Arab citizens accounted for 18.6% of new unemployment benefit applicants during March and April. A closer look at these figures reveals that 57.8% of the new Arab applicants were men and 42.2% were women; among the Jewish population, in which women participation is the job market is much higher, the opposite is the case: 41.2% were men and 58.8% were women.

The figure for income support claims among Bedouins in the Negev is even more acute: about 11.7% for March-April (5% for Arab community as a whole and 3.55% among the general population).

Also, the percentage of younger claimants is higher among Arabs as compared with Jews: 50.7% between the ages of 20-34 (42.6% before the crisis); Jewish claimants in the same age group stood at 44.4% (up from pre-crisis figure of 40.4%).

According to a report from Israel’s Civil Service Commission in late May, Arabs accounted for 12.2% of civil service employees. While this figure is higher than the 10% goal set, other relevant data need to be figured in: Arabs comprise 20% of the general population, and 17.5% of employees in the health system. Consideration reportedly being given to raising the overall goal to 15% can be understood in this context.

The coronavirus crisis struck just as Israel could point to significant progress in upgrading Arab employment. The country will now need to wisely calibrate its next steps in an area vital to future progress.

Since the implementation of GR-922, the percentage of Arab students enrolled for degrees in higher educational institutions has increased at all levels: bachelor’s degrees (18% are now Arab students), master’s degrees (14%) and PhD studies (7%). These numbers represent the goals set for the year 2022, reached some two years ahead of schedule. Furthermore, the number of Arab women studying for a bachelor’s degree has increased from 40% in the 1990s to about 65% today.

Another off-shoot of GR-922 includes a new Arabic language proficiency exam setting higher standards for future teachers now routinely given. Other tangible expressions of the decision’s impact include: Pre-academic training for future Bedouin teachers (including training for their trainers), enhancement of Arabic language training, pedagogy, academic support, and additional training components for teachers of all subjects and all grade levels.

The number of Arab students in 12th grade eligible for a full matriculation (“Bagrut”) certificate has risen from 58.4% to 64.8%. In addition, the number of 12th graders studying the highest level of math (“5 points”) has risen to 10%, up from 7.2% previously.

For elementary schools, NIS 500 million was allocated in order to provide 31,000 additional teaching hours in math, Hebrew and Arabic. Furthermore, even more hours were added for schools in weak Arab communities (together with existing measures to support vulnerable communities). The Ministry of Education has added programs to strengthen the level of science and math education for Bedouins in the southern region. Looking forward, GR-922 also includes plans to construct more classrooms and renovate schools that are overcrowded or have fallen into disrepair.

Nevertheless, it appears that primary and secondary school education were hit hard by the coronavirus crisis. Specifically, throughout the period it was widely reported that high percentages of Arab students were unable to connect to remote learning in a continuous manner. This situation has been attributed to a number of factors, particularly equipment availability and infrastructure quality.

A sum of NIS 2.15 billion has been invested in infrastructure in the Arab community during the period of 2016-19, including 24 roadwork projects already completed and another 37 currently in progress. In this context, the number of Arab towns serviced by public transportation – important in the context of employment, as well as in its own right – grew to 124 in 2019 (from 116 in 2016), while the amount of routes run on a weekly basis increased to 60,256 in 2019 (from 35,903 in 2016).

Regarding transportation and road safety, there has been a significant rise in the number of public transportation users in Arab communities following the increase of bus services in Arab municipalities. Dozens of new bus lines have been created, improving frequency and geographical coverage of the existing lines.

In the area of water conservation, more water purification plants have been constructed. With regard to sewage, there has been a rise in the number of Arab municipalities connected to professional sewage services. Land redemption programs are being funded for the development of the Arab sector, and funds from “Toto” (official supervised sports gambling) are being allocated for the construction of Arab community sports centers. Dozens of playgrounds and soccer fields in the community have also been created in the past four years.

At the community level, a GR-922 NIS 569 million investment facilitated the opening of 11 new police stations, the expansion of two existing stations and the recruitment of about 400 new Arab police officers (including 42 women); prior to the GR-922 there were only 342 Muslim police officers in total.

In addition, 80 more positions in national civilian service were created for all youth groups in the Arab community. Furthermore, a new program called “the universal volunteer” was established; a joint initiative between the National Civilian Service Authority and the Ministry of Education, the program focusing on the training of young women in the minority community for meaningful service in educational institutions.

While much more ground still needs to be covered to attain equal opportunity, Israel’s Arab community can draw encouragement from economic development and life improvements especially since implementation of GR-922 was launched.