Israel is a multicultural country. Several thousand gypsies, who call themselves Domari, also live here. They have adapted to the Arab culture and mostly live in poverty in large families.

Its Jewish population alone, which makes up eighty percent of Israel's eight million inhabitants, is divided into an enormous number of different origins, skin colors, and religious and cultural traditions. There are Jews from all European countries, from the USA and Canada, from South America, Australia, and South Africa. Today, the majority of the Jewish inhabitants of what was formerly Ashkenazi-Western Israel come from many Islamic countries such as Egypt, Yemen, Syria, Iran, Iraq, Morocco, etc. - these are the Oriental Jews.

Disappeared own language

There are also the black Jews from Ethiopia, as well as Jews from India and other Far Eastern countries. They are united by the Jewish faith, Jewish history and often the Jewish fate of persecution. Israel's Arab population, which includes Muslims, Christians, Circassians and Druze, is also divided into various minorities. Then there are the Aramaic-speaking Samaritans, today numbering around 750 souls, who live in Holon (near Tel Aviv) in Israel and in Kiriat Luza on Mount Gerizin in the West Bank. All of these ethnic groups are well known. But who has heard of the "Domari"?

They exist, the gypsies in Israel, on the West Bank and also in Gaza today. Around two thousand Domari now live in the Jerusalem Old City quarter "Bab al Huta", near the Lions Gate and surrounding Arab villages. They hardly know their own language, Romani, anymore. Instead of being traditionally Christian, like the Roma of Eastern and Western Europe, the Roma of the Orient are now almost exclusively Muslims. It is said to be an "Islam light" and, like other monotheistic religions, with a strong influence of ancient animistic traditions.

For centuries in Jerusalem

The Domari are also divided into tribes or clans, whose names today sound Arabic, such as Saleem, Nadeer and Nuri. In the centuries they have lived in the Middle East, they have adapted to many aspects of Arab culture and live in extended families, mostly under one roof, mostly in very small spaces and in great poverty. The current Domari community in the Old City of Jerusalem consists of around one hundred and fifty families, around two thousand people. Smaller numbers also live in Arab suburbs of Jerusalem and in Gaza.

Domari have been living in Jerusalem and its surroundings for a good four hundred years. According to their own myths, they even arrived in the Holy Land a thousand years ago. In Israel they call themselves Domari or Dom, and around the world they are called gypsies or, more politically correctly, Sinti and Roma. "I didn't know there were gypsies in Israel" is the answer I always get when I ask Jewish Israelis about this.

At the lowest level of the social ladder

Gypsies have their own culture and, in many ways, their own religious traditions. But in general they have adapted to their wider environment. The majority of Domari are now Muslims, but they do not live a very strict religious life. Some have returned to Christianity. In Domari society in the Middle East, there are few people with formal education. The nomadic lifestyle they followed until relatively recently did not allow this. Domari families had an average of six to eight children, but their birth rate in Israel is declining, according to a study by Eetta Prince-Gibson (Dom Research Center).

Gypsies are not exactly well-liked in Israel/Palestine either, and certainly not by today's Arab society. Particularly in the Arab villages where they live today, there are similar racist prejudices to those we still see in Europe against the Travellers. Israel's Jewish society does not notice the Domari, practically no one knows of their existence. Arabs call the Domari "Nawari" - "black" or "dirty" - reminiscent of European and now Islamist anti-Semitism. As in Europe, the Domari (gypsies) are at the bottom of the social ladder.

Remembrance of the Gypsy Holocaust

According to the Reform Jewish lawyer Anat Hofman, today well-known as an activist for women's rights at the Wailing Wall in Jerusalem, the Gypsy people share many of the same fate as the Jews. Like them, they were persecuted and killed by the Nazis. Around 250,000 were killed in extermination camps (mainly in Auschwitz and Birkenau). Sinti and Roma have a word for their own Holocaust in their own language, Romani: "Porrajmos", which means "the devouring" in German.

The gypsy community of East Jerusalem is considered the poorest part of Palestinian society. The Domari are despised by Arab Palestinians and considered an inferior "race". The racism from Arab society against them manifests itself in everyday interactions. The Domari still have Jordanian passports and the resulting ambiguous nationality condemns them to the lowest jobs; often all they can do is beg.

Promise from Jerusalem's mayor

However, Israel's gypsies have sympathizers in Israel. Israeli tour guide Ofra Regev has taken the Domari community under her wing and is now working with them on behalf of the Jerusalem municipal administration. The recently re-elected mayor of Jerusalem, Nir Barkat, reported in the press in November 2012, has adopted Jerusalem's Domari and promised them help. He wants to do his best to help them become Israeli citizens, with all the rights and responsibilities. Barkat said a little later: "The city respects and values the gypsy community and its representatives. We want to work hand in hand with them to improve their situation. The gypsies are a unique ethnic community that contributes to the cultural and social life of the city. I am pleased with the noticeable improvement in their quality of life over the past two years, as a result of the intensive efforts of the city administration, which will continue."

The mukhtar (leader or mayor) of Jerusalem's Domari, Abed al-Hakim Salim, whose daughter is the only lawyer from the Domari community there, told a journalist in October 2012 that his people are closely linked to the State of Israel and that in the future members of his community would even consider serving in the [Israeli] army.