海角大神

For Israeli-Palestinian interaction, a new venue: the Arab doctor's office

As a more ambitious Palestinian middle class seeks to integrate, the number of those pursuing medical careers is surging.

At the height of a recent wave of stabbing attacks in Jerusalem and Israeli towns, frightened Israeli Jews pressured municipalities to keep Arab construction laborers away from building sites and cleaning women away from schools.

But no one聽protested against聽the thousands of Palestinian Arab citizens聽of Israel聽who work every day聽as doctors, nurses, and pharmacists in Jewish cities, helping patients at especially vulnerable moments.

鈥淚 am greeted with a lot of respect,鈥� says Dr. Mahmoud Abo Salwook, an endocrinologist from the Arab village of Kafr Qassem聽who treats diabetes patients in the ultra-Orthodox Tel Aviv suburb of Bnei Brak. He has聽worked for nine years in clinics in Jewish neighborhoods.

Anti-Arab聽remarks from Jewish patients are rare,聽Dr. Abo Salwook says.聽鈥淚t鈥檚 an exception. They usually come from people who are uneducated and closed-minded,鈥澛爃e says.聽鈥淚 get a lot of nice feedback 颅鈥� I hear what patients tell the secretaries.鈥�

Abo聽Salwook鈥檚 career path聽illustrates a growing trend among Israel鈥檚 Arab citizens and an employment shift that鈥檚 been under way for the past decade in clinics, hospitals, and pharmacies in聽Jewish communities throughout Israel.

While Arab citizens most frequently come into contact with Jewish Israelis as blue-collar builders, drivers, or waiters in Middle Eastern restaurants, they have streamed in recent years into Israel鈥檚 health-care professions.

Even as the Israeli Arab minority confronts increased animosity from Israel鈥檚 right-wing government and heightened tensions from the recent violence,聽the upsurge聽in the medical professions聽highlights how a more ambitious Arab middle class is seeking to integrate. At the same time it's spurring a new kind of Arab-Jewish interaction, albeit one that often goes unnoticed.

When聽Abo Salwook first left home for medical school nearly 20 years ago, he was one of the only students from Kafr Qassem to pursue medicine. Now, thousands of other young people from the village and across the Israeli Arab community are following suit.

Profession with prestige

鈥淚t opened a door to others,鈥� says Abo Salwook.聽鈥淲e see that in the last decade, there鈥檚 an upsurge in the number of [Arab] doctors. The numbers are only rising.鈥�

According to a 2011 tally by the Government鈥檚 civil service commissioner鈥檚 office, 12.5 percent of Israel鈥檚 doctors in the public health system are Arab, as are 11.3 percent of nurses. A 2015 study by Tel Aviv University indicated that Arabs account for 35 percent of all pharmacists.

While the figures indicate that Arab doctors and nurses are still under-represented relative to their portion of Israel鈥檚 overall population聽鈥� 20 percent聽鈥� it鈥檚 a higher rate than their overall representation in Israel鈥檚聽public sector, where percentages are normally in the single digits.

Arab聽Israelis聽are attracted to medicine聽for some of the usual reasons: the potential for employment is strong and it鈥檚 a profession with prestige.

鈥淚t conveys a status. And it鈥檚 very important socially," not only to Arab students but to their families, says Hawazin Younis, a doctoral student in anthropology at Haifa University who studies the career paths of Arab professional women.

Shortage of doctors in Israel

The upsurge highlights a growing thirst among Arab citizens to pursue higher education as a means toward socio-economic advancement and integration.聽A rise in teachers鈥� performance in Arab schools聽has resulted in more graduates with the skills to pursue medical professions.

The road is not easy. Thousands of Arab doctors whose applications to Israeli medical schools are rejected choose to go to Eastern Europe to study medicine.

鈥淓ven families who are relatively poor are willing to pay money for their kids to get a higher education,鈥� says Abo Salwook.

The upsurge also reflects a human resources shortage in Israel鈥檚 medical services fields. According to the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development, Israel has half the nurses per capita as in the European Union. It is also struggling with a shortage of doctors because Jewish doctors are leaving the socialized health system for more lucrative work in private medicine, clinics abroad, or in high tech.

The Israeli health system聽also聽attracts Palestinian citizens because of the centrality of the medical oath, which requires professionals to treat patients without bias 鈥� and has become part of general culture of public health services, according to a 2011 report by the Abraham Fund Initiative, a nongovernmental organization that promotes Jewish-Arab coexistence in Israel.

Shared conservative values

鈥淚t speaks to the humanity of people, even though it requires a lot of investment,鈥� says Abo Salwook. Even though聽his聽ultra-Orthodox聽patients聽and聽Palestinian Israelis seem worlds apart, Abo聽Salwook聽says, he sees a common denominator. Both are聽religious, traditional聽communities that are socially and economically marginalized relative to聽Israel鈥檚聽mainstream.

鈥淚 came up from the bottom too. I understand these people; they aren鈥檛 a lot different from Muslims. We are also believers,鈥� he says. 鈥淚 can help with how to deal with the disease spiritually.鈥�

Dr. Mushira Abo Dia, a Hadassah Hospital obstetrician from聽the town of聽Lod聽in central聽Israel, treats women at a clinic in another religiously observant Jewish聽town, Beit Shemesh, and agrees that conservative values are a common ground. Both religious Jews and Muslim communities grapple with traditionalist attitudes toward contraception and sexual intercourse.

Working in Beit Shemesh has exposed Dr. Abo Dia to the intricacies of Jewish law on sexual relations and menstruation with which most聽secular Israeli Jews are not familiar. 鈥淚 understand a lot of things in the Jewish religion, something that you only understand if you live in Jewish [religious] society,鈥� she says.

Will the progress spur a shift in attitudes?聽Abo Dia says she has no idea if the interaction in the examining room will change political attitudes. But Abo Salwook, the endocrinologist, says he sees an additional mission beyond caring for his patients.

鈥淚 look at myself as an ambassador of my community, so when people leave, they鈥檒l say, 鈥榃ow, they鈥檙e not like what I thought. We can live together.鈥� 鈥�