(Haaretz).The head of Israel's Center for Jewish-Arab Economic Development believes that Benjamin Netanyahu's government has undergone a welcome policy shift on boosting business ventures in the Arab sector, citing the creation of a private equity fund precisely for that purpose.
CJAED executive chairman Eytan Biderman and director Helmi Kittani praised the launch of the fund, saying that the need to integrate Arab sector into the Israeli workforce - which their organization has been promoting for over two decades - "is now recognized as national policy."
Biderman says the government has come to this realization largely for economic reasons, adding that while the rate of employment in the Israeli Arab population is much lower than in the Jewish sector, the rate of Arabs in relevant age groups would increase significantly in the next decade.
Some 41.4 percent of Israeli Arabs aged over 15 participate in the workforce, compared to 59 percent of Jews, according to the Central Bureau of Statistics. No statistics exist for the number of Arab business owners in Israel.
"If Arabs [aren't] successfully integrated into employment and into business life in Israel, Israel's GDP is in significant danger of sliding backward. So we're not just talking about pluralism and democracy' we're talking economic development," Biderman said.
The winning bidder for the tender to run the fund will be expected to commit a minimum of NIS 80 million ($20.6 million) to match a government contribution, meaning an injection of at least NIS 160 million ($41.2m) for Arab businesses.
Ayman Saif, the director of the Economic Development Authority in the Minority Sector, which is a part of the Prime Minister's Office, said the fund "is one of the most important projects" initiated by the government for the Arab sector in recent years, and "constitutes the first project of its kind in the State of Israel."
