Screen shot of Haaretz article in Arabic. Photo: Haaretz

An article in Haaretz was published in Arabic Tuesday, a first for the Israeli  newspaper. Appearing under a headline urging Arab-Israeli citizens to vote, the article was accompanied by a Hebrew translation on the opposite page.

“Arab citizens are an important and integral part of Israeli society, and contribute to a variety of areas. As a national minority [they] are also enriching…Israeli democracy, and therefore ought to express themselves politically in a way that reflects their place as a part of the population of Israel,” the article says, according to a translation.

“It is important that many citizens vote in the elections, and that of course includes the Arabs,” Alon Idan, an editor for Haaretz, told Israel’s Channel 2.”In recent years there has been a decline in the percentage of Arab citizens voting so we decided to devote an editorial calling on them to vote in elections. Since the article is directed at the Arab population, we decided to publish it in both Hebrew and Arabic.”