In a speech yesterday at Givat Haviva, The Center for a Shared Society, Israeli President Reuven Rivlin called for all citizens to forge “a shared Israeli identity,” The Times of Israel reported Thursday.

“[I]t is important to say that the vision of living together, so needed in Israeli society, is one that deals with the shaping of a civil language, with the building of a joint economy, and with the forging of a shared Israeli identity,” he said. “This is a vision, and an Israeli hope, of which we are in need.” …

In order to begin to mend the relationship between Jews and Arabs, he continued, it was “essential” for both groups to “recognize this, as painful as it may be,” before moving on to “nurture the positive identities of each side, and from within these identities, reach out to the other’s culture and story.” …

The key to a breakthrough, according to Rivlin, is to enlist new forces from the mainstream of both societies. “The dealing with the relations between Arabs and Jews, must be moved into the mainstream’s consciousness; in the public, political and media spheres.”

The Jerusalem Post added:

Unafraid of stoking the fires of controversy, Rivlin said that there should not be an expectation on behalf of the Jewish public that the Arab public sing Israel’s national anthem “with glistening eyes.” However, he added, there is a just and understandable expectation that the Arab population accept the rules of democracy and citizenship, and that they will play a meaningful role for the benefit of Israeli society in general.

“The Jewish public in Israel expects and will continue to expect to hear clear condemnation from the Arab community of those within its midst who continue to align themselves with the worst of Israel’s enemies and those who seek to undermine Israel’s very right to exist,” the president said.

Similarly, he added, “The Jewish public expects and will continue to expect from the Arab public a sense of solidarity and mutual responsibility as exhibited by the undertaking of public and community service and concern for the public well-being.”

Though at this time Rivlin’s office has not yet published the complete text of the speech on his website, it provided a copy of the text to The Tower. Additional excerpts of the speech are included below.

Dear friends, this conference is dedicated to designing a vision for Israeli society, for a shared coexistence between Jews and Arabs. However, before I delve deeper into the subject we are focused on today, it is important to say, that the challenge of cooperation, which I prefer to phrase as the challenge of forming a basis for cooperation in Israeli society, is not confined to relations between Arabs and Jews. Rather, as we look at the children of the first grade today, we see that Israeli society is compiled of four central tribes, of increasingly similar size. Secular people, modern-Orthodox people, ultra-Orthodox, and Arab people. Each of these groups, maintains a different cultural ethos, identity, and sometimes even nationalities. This is expressed most starkly, in the existence of four, quite separate and different streams in the Israeli education system. This social reality, is a sort of ‘new Israeli order’. A reality in which, no longer exists a majority and a minority as we understand them, with minority groups living alongside a large secular public. Therefore, it is important to say that the vision of living together, so needed in Israeli society, is one that deals with the shaping of a civil language, with the building of a joint economy, and with the forging of a ‘shared Israeli identity’: not just for a boy in Tel Aviv, or a girl in Kafr Qasem; but for them both, together with the boy in Bnei Barak, and the girl in Beit El. This is a vision, and an Israeli hope, of which we are in need. …

When we seek confidence building measures between Jews and Arabs, we must work to nurture the positive identities of each side, and from within these identities, reach out to the other’s culture and story. Such outreach is first and foremost found in language. The Hebrew language must be learned to perfection by the Arabic population, but the time has come, that also the Arabic language will be learned by the Jewish population. Language leads from the ear to the heart. My friends, also on the practical level we must begin to take steps, as early as yesterday. It is no secret that the establishing of trust between the Arab and Jewish communities and between the State of Israel, demands courageous actions in order to narrow the tremendous gaps in budgets and infrastructure. Equal access to resources, and to employment and economic opportunities, are a basic condition for trust. Just as they are the basic obligations of a democratic state toward its citizens.

At the door of the new government lies the opportunity to enact significant steps to build confidence between the sides, which I hope it will strive to implement. After sixty-seven years, in which no new Arab city or town was built, it is time to take very real measures to establish a new Arab city, for the first time in Israel. Government resolution 3810 on this issue was already passed in July 2008. The planning and construction process was approved last year by the national planning committee. By 2020, I would hope and like to believe that the city will be on the ground and not just on paper.

Friends, it is clear that confidence building measures cannot be undertaken by one side alone. The Arab public also needs to take measures to build trust, between them and the Jewish public, and the State of Israel. There is not, and should not be an expectation on behalf of the Jewish public, that the Arab public would sing Israel’s national anthem with eyes glistening, however, there is a just and understandable expectation that the Arab population accept the rules of democracy and citizenship, rules which guide us, and that they play a meaningful role for the benefit of Israeli society in general. Accordingly, the Jewish public in the State of Israel, expects and will continue to expect to hear clear condemnation of those within the Arab community who continue to align themselves with the worst of our enemies, and those who seek to undermine Israel’s very right to exist. Similarly, the Jewish public in the State of Israel, expects and will continue to expect from the Arab public, a sense of solidarity and mutual responsibility, as exhibited by the undertaking of public and community service, and concern for the public well-being.

[Photo: Courtesy Government Press Office ]