Jewish Journal   January 4, 1998  Warring Tribes  Israel: The
Nation   Theoriginal idea, born after the 1948 War of
Independence, was that allJews in Israel would be equal. No
poor, no "ethnics," no excessivelyreligious people unless they
were too stubborn to change. The nearly2 million Jewish
immigrants (at first chiefly from Middle Easterncountries, later
mainly from the Soviet Union and the republics thatsucceeded it)
were slated for nationalization -- to become Israelisfirst and
last, with nothing to separate them from one another orfrom the
Sabras.  It hasn't worked out that way. Today it is
rapidlybecoming clear that Israel has atomized into a number of
"tribes" --Sephardim, Russians, Ethiopians, ultra-Orthodox,
national Orthodoxand secular Ashkenazim. (The nearly 1 million
Arab citizens ofIsrael, who make up about 15 percent of the
total population, areunofficially treated as a separate, lesser
people.)  Fueling the tribal divisions are economic gapsbetween
the rich and poor. The poor live in what are