Part 2, Chapter 9 Summary

Shipler begins Chapter 9, entitled "Segregation and Class," with a statement that there is too much bitterness among Arabs and Jews for them to generate jokes about themselves or each other. Arabs in Israel are manual workers, performing the tasks Jews detest. Any dirty or menial work is called "Arab work," and the phrase has a secondary meaning - shoddy work -a ubiquitous slur against anyone who does anything inadequately. Arabs resent the Jews as exploiters who arrogantly rest on membership in the "chosen people." Wealthy Jews deride Arabs as dirty and lazy but also detest the "uppity" attitude they adopt when regularly employed. Poverty-line Jews who are unwilling to perform the jobs Arabs accept seethe over the Arabs' willingness to accept lower wages. Linked with this feeling is a profound resentment that Arab youth are exempt from military service, and so...