Israel proudly tells the world that its "Arab" citizens enjoy entirely equal rights with Jewish citizens. The truth is far uglier, as prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu inadvertently conceded when he used Instagram to correct an Israeli TV host who had suggested that Israel was a western-style democracy. "Israel is not a state of all its citizens. According to the nation-state law we passed, Israel is the nation-state of the Jewish people and not anyone else," he wrote.
Some 70 laws explicitly offer differentiated rights depending on whether an Israeli citizen is Jewish or "Arab".
"Israel's Arabs" are almost entirely segregated from Israeli Jews in where they can live, where they go to school, and in many cases where they are allowed to work. The citizenship status of Jews and "Arabs" derives from separate laws. These "Arabs" are barred from living in most of Israel's territory, and planning rules have been systematically skewed to their disadvantage.
In short, most "Israeli Arabs" live in segregated, poor, land-hungry, overcrowded and under-resourced communities.
But by historical accident they have an Israeli citizenship that confers on them - unlike Palestinians under occupation - the right to vote in Israeli elections and basic legal rights protected by Israel's civilian courts, not its military courts.
"Israel's Arabs" are also typically dealt with either by the ordinary Israeli police or by a paramilitary force known as the Border Police that operates in both Israel and the occupied territories. The border being policed is the segregated one between Jews and non-Jews.
But dealing with the Border Police is often preferable to being policed by the Israeli army, as is usually the case for Palestinians in the occupied territories.
No price to payAs the settlers who disrupt the woodland picnic fail to get their way, they look confused and unsure. One says to the family: "You are not Israeli, you are Arabs. We did you a favor by letting you remain [in Israel]. Go back to Nazareth." But what exactly are their rights in a situation like this?
If these were straightforward "Palestinians", the settlers could throw rocks at them or shoot over their heads. Should the Palestinians refuse to flee, they could be beaten or the settlers could even consider shooting one in the leg - or worse - to make sure the rest got the message: "We are kings and you are unwelcome serfs".
There is unlikely to be a price to pay for harming Palestinians under occupation, apart from maybe a story in Haaretz from Amira Hass, the only Israeli reporter living in the West Bank.
But the settlers can always say they had been attacked by Palestinians and were defending themselves. No real questions would be asked. If a video surfaced on YouTube showing otherwise, Israeli officials would act as press officers, claiming the footage was edited to mislead viewers - just another example of Pallywood. And anyone sharing the video could be discounted as an antisemite.
Familiar rulesThis is a game whose rules the settlers - and the Israeli army and government behind them - know only too well, rules designed to work exclusively for their benefit.
But in the case of "Israeli Arabs" picnicking in the West Bank, the rules have not been properly defined. Can settlers beat with impunity these uppity natives with Israeli citizenship? Can they point their guns at them? If they do, what happens? Might there be an investigation? And if so, who will lead it - the army or the police?
Might these "Arabs" have relatives back in privileged Nazareth who are lawyers versed in the intricacies of the Israeli legal system? There are even some "Arab" judges in the court system. How might such a judge rule in a case like this?
The settlers' uncertainty is justified. Which apartheid rules apply in the occupied territories when dealing with "Israel's Arabs": the occupation version of apartheid or the Israeli democracy version of apartheid? It is a grey area.
Unsure of powersNo longer confident that their powers are limitless, at least in a situation like this one, the settlers decide to delegate. They call the army. After all, soldiers of the Jewish state are there to protect other Jews, even when those Jews are armed, they are living illegally on Palestinian land and they are attacking defenseless Palestinians.
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