Olmert admits discrimination against Arabs: MP

Interim Prime Minister Ehud Olmert on Wednesday appeared before a parliamentary commission investigating reports of discrimination in the public service against Arab Israelis, MP Ahmad Tibi said.

The Arab Israeli parliamentarian, who heads the commission, told AFP that Olmert acknowledged that the country's Arab Israelis had suffered "intolerable discrimination" since the Jewish state was created in 1948.

There was no independent confirmation of Olmert's remarks.

"Arabs make up 20 percent of the population, but just five percent of the employees in the civil service," Tibi said.

He said the central bank has a 900-strong workforce "but does not employ a single Arab," adding: "This politics of discrimination must end."

Israeli Arabs, the descendants of 160,000 Palestinians who did not flee following the establishment of Israel 60 years ago, are now estimated to number some 1.3 million people.

In 2006, Israel's supreme court denounced discrimination against the country's Arab minority.