Jafar Farah
All over the world, ordinary women, men, and children are fighting for the rights of their communities to be recognized. Jafar Farah spoke to MRG's Emma Eastwood.
When asked about his nationality Jafar Farah doesn’t give a simple reply. The Director of the Mossawa Centre in Haifa describes himself as a Palestinian Arab citizen of Israel: every word of his answer belies the thorny relationship between the Jewish majority and Arab minority in his homeland.
After years of being treated as “second-class citizens” Jafar Farah understands the frustrations of the Arab community in Israel. He says, “It is easier to throw stones than to go to the Knesset.”
But the Mossawa Centre does go to the Knesset - often. In Arabic, mossawa means equality, and their mission is to achieve equal rights for Israel’s often forgotten 1.3 million Palestinian Arab citizens through advocacy, public information campaigns, training and research.
Political awakenings
Jafar is no stranger to activism: galvanised into action during the 1982 Israel-Lebanon war he organised strikes at school and in 1988 was elected head of the Israeli universities’ Union of Arab Students. Whilst at university he worked as a mediator and community organiser of Jewish Arab programmes.
Jafar spent 7 years working as a journalist in both Hebrew and Arabic but his newspaper career was to come to an abrupt end one day in 1997. Whilst covering a house demolition by the Israeli security forces he witnessed Arab citizens on the receiving end of police brutality. Incensed by the events, he filed his copy only to be told by his editor that he was becoming too involved.
With admirable conviction, Jafar’s immediate response was to quit his job and fully dedicate himself to working for the rights of the Arab community in Israel. Two long years of battles for legal status with the Israeli authorities later the Mossawa Centre was born.
Breaking free from control
Jafar is in no doubt about the scale of the task ahead of him - changing the attitude of the Jewish majority in Israel, and, in the process, over-turning deeply-entrenched prejudices. He says, “The Jewish majority is neglecting the Arab minority. If we do not change the balance then we will never have peace.”
"The Jewish majority is neglecting the Arab minority. If we do not change the balance then we will never have peace."
But despite the odds, Jafar seems to have boundless hope for a peaceful outcome. When I ask him about the major challenges in his work he talks passionately about his organisation’s work.
“The Mossawa Centre gives tools to the people so that they can change their reality", he says. "People are frustrated by government practices and do not feel free. It is immensely difficult to build creative strategies with people who feel controlled. The challenge is to break free from that control and to be creative when developing strategies.”
And they get results. Jafar is proud of his community’s achievements - new schools are being built for Arab children, new Palestinian neighbourhoods are appearing for the first time in 60 years and awareness of the Arab minority in Israel is growing.
Jafar Farah’s hopes for his community’s future are no different from others in conflict-ravaged regions. “We just want a normal life... to stay in our homeland, practice our citizenship and build a future.”
Interview by MRG's Emma Eastwood. Jafar Farah was in London in July 2007.