The problem, as the United States discovered in the 1950s, is that separate is usually inherently unequal. Israeli Arabs and Jews live essentially segregated lives -- their paths crossing only briefly at university -- with vastly differing opportunities. According to the New Israel Fund, an organization that promotes social justice, only 3.7 percent of Israel's federal employees are Arabs; Arabs hold only 50 out of 5,000 university faculty positions; and of the country's 61 poorest towns, 48 are Arab.

But the most glaring discrimination is the way in which the Jews strictly limit the Arabs from purchasing land.

Although Israel's Arab population has grown from 150,000 in 1948 to almost 1 million today, Arab communities have been systematically denied the right to expand beyond their 1948 boundaries. At the same time, Israel has continued to confiscate private Arab land. Not surprisingly, the disproportionate amount of Arab land expropriated recently to build the Trans-Israel Highway was one of the major grievances that pushed Israeli Arabs to protest this month.

"It's a Zionist plan to choke Arabs from within," asserts Kaadan. In a scene typical of Arab overcrowding, Kaadan shares his narrow driveway with two other houses built seemingly without plan or permit. "They made us a part of their country, but Israel doesn't really want us to be here. They didn't develop Arab infrastructure or villages."

The issue of land distribution is a reflection of the fundamental contradiction between Israel, the country set up after the Holocaust as a shelter for displaced Jews, and Israel as a liberal democracy. (Israel's 1948 Declaration of Independence defined the country as a "Jewish state," but simultaneously promised "full social and political equality of all its citizens, without distinction of religion, race or sex.")

As with the hilltop around Katzir, most of Israel's land has been designated for Jewish settlement through the Jewish Agency, a powerful quasi-governmental body that works solely on behalf of Jews. This means government resources go toward building new housing for Jews -- even while Arabs continue to live in ghettoized pockets that suffer from gross neglect. This explains why Katzir, a village that has absorbed hundreds of new Jewish immigrants from the former Soviet Union in the past decade, felt it had the right to close its doors to Arabs. It also explains why the anger and bitterness among Israeli Arabs run so strong.

During the recent days of riots in Baqa, a town of 25,000 that has no pools, cinemas or shopping malls, "People looked for anything that represented Israel," says Kaadan. "A border police jeep came into the village and was attacked. When the jeep left, they hit the Israel National Bank and burned down the post office."

The attacks appalled Israeli Jews. Why should Israel improve the living conditions of Arabs if they burn Israeli flags and side with Israel's Palestinian enemies? Beeri Holtzman, head of the governmental team that drafted the $1 billion plan for the Arab sector, says he was amazed Barak's cabinet approved the package last week in such a climate of open hostility. "We are in the middle of a confrontation, and it's quite a miracle for me to see that Israelis can accept this kind of program at a time like this. I can be more than proud. It seems that everyone feels that it's time to improve the conditions of Arabs. It's time to take some courageous steps."

Shlomo Hasson, a professor of geography at Israel's Hebrew University, puts the issue in different terms. He draws a parallel between Israeli Arabs who have feelings of sympathy for embattled Palestinians, and American Jews who identify with Israel in times of war but remain loyal American citizens. "The majority of Arabs are angry and upset," Hasson says, "but they still regard themselves as Israeli citizens and should be treated that way."

In many respects, this month's Israeli Arab riots were a cry for attention, not a declaration of war. "The people are boiling here," said Kaadan, speaking of Baqa. "Fifty percent are unemployed. Educated people can't find suitable jobs. There are no activities after work. What do you want people to do? The government of Israel is responsible for this [outburst of violence]."

The Israeli government's new plan for the Arab sector could help calm tempers by allowing Arab communities to gradually expand and develop. But Dan Yakir -- a Jewish lawyer from the Israeli Association for Civil Rights who helped Kaadan win his suit and is now waiting, like Kaadan, for concrete results -- expressed caution. "There have been many promises before. The real test will be in the implementation."

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