In the past, with the "glorious" military achievements of the Israeli army, together with the presence of the old experienced political "founding generation", the Israeli armed forces were highly respected and the military service was considered a source of honour, according to journalist, Yoel Marcus.

Today, the situation has changed. Professor Yagel Levi, author of From the People's Army to the Quarters Army, believes that "there is an increasing tendency at the Israeli families and young people to avoid military service ... Young men and women who come from the higher class of the society are being exempted from the military service, while in case they are recruited, they choose none-fighting units".

Indeed, some journalists wrote about Prime Minister Ehud Olmert's son who avoided the military service by simply lingering outside the country. Perhaps that is why Ehud Barak, the Israeli Defence Minister, in August 2007, expressed his belief that the Israeli army had changed "from the army of the people to the army of half the people". He warned that "a soldier could not fight if he either felt exploited or had left behind him a society rife with hatred".

One must mention also that the Harideem (Orthodox Jews) who form 20 per cent of the Israeli Jewish population, are, on religious basis, are exempted from military service. Being against birth control, their birth rate is higher than the rest of all other Jews in Israel, which means an increasing number of young people who are eligible to being exempted from the military service. For other reasons (mainly "technological" that reduced the numbers of conscripts needed) the Israeli military numbers have fallen down, depriving this "establishment" from its previously vital role of acting as a crucible that used to amalgamate the soldiers coming from various ethnic, social and cultural origins into a uniform Zionist culture.

With this situation, can we say that the "social role" (as well as the military role) of the Israeli armed forces (that had formed the core of its social and security strategy) is "falling apart"? Observing the present situation, we have good reason to believe that the Israeli army has lost some of its previous superiority, with whatever psychological effects that may ensue on the Israeli public.

Such developments have contributed to additional, but very important, built-in structural problems faced by the Zionist State. Indeed, ethnic and sectarian problems are another well-know negative factor in the fabric of the Israeli society.

The Israeli Jews are divided into two categories: The Jews of European origin, generally called Ashkenazis, and the Jews of Eastern origin, called Sephardis or Mizrahis. The expression Sephardi (plural Sepharim) in Hebrew, actually refers to the Iberian Jews who were expelled from Spain and Portugal in 1492 and 1497 respectively.

The eastern, non-Iberian Jews are called the Mizrahis, a term generally referred to non-European Jews. Having stated all that, it was the Ashkenazis who led and composed the "pioneer movement" that immigrated to Palestine before 1948 and, in that year, established the State of Israel. One must not forget also that the World Zionist Organisation (WZO) was established by the European Jews in 1897 for the purpose of finding for themselves a Jewish homeland somewhere in the world - not necessarily in Palestine - as the only way to solve the "Jewish Question" and to avoid the long (then ever growing) persecution by European Christians.

Zionist idea

In line with the Zionist idea that Israel must be "the homeland" of the world Jewry, Jews of Eastern origin were also called to immigrate to Israel after it was established. Non-European Jews, therefore, had little to do with Zionism before joining Israel and they were very rarely persecuted by the non-Jewish majorities in their countries of origin.

The Ashkenazis' solid control of Israel's politics and economy frustrated other Israelis (both Jews and Arabs). In fact, perhaps due to the insurmountable cultural differences, heightened by the disparity in standard of living, the two groups today (Western and Eastern) form two different "societies", with very small percentage of intermarriage.

The Ashkenazis, according to Elizier Ben-Rafael and Stephen Sharot, tried "to force their culture" on the Sephardis/Mizrahis groups. Despite the Ashkenazi leadership's belief that bringing together all the different Jews in Israel would create a Jewish nation, the encounter between the traditionally religious Eastern Jews and the secular Ashkenazis had created unexpected crises.

While some Eastern Jews had willingly adopted the Ashkenazi culture and way of life, the majority preferred to adhere to the family and the sectarian synagogue to which they belonged. Moreover, one may also mention a new category of Jews, namely the Russians who immigrated after the fall of the Soviet Union. This group seems unwilling to give up its Russian culture and language and quite a few of them have already returned to Russia.

Economically, the majority of the poor stratum of the Israeli society belongs to the Jews of Eastern origin, not to mention the Palestinian Arab minority (20 per cent of the total population of Israel). Being both poor and culturally different, one can expect a problem of identity in relation to the Ashkenazi-controlled State. Having mentioned the Arab minority, they are considered a kind of unwanted lot in the population. Needless to mention that the majority of these Palestinian Arabs belong to the lowest economic stratum. A fact that enforces the already mentioned Jewish-Jewish ethnic and sectarian cleavages in Israel.

Professor As'ad Abdul Rahman is the Chairman of the Palestinian Encyclopedia.