JERUSALEM (Reuters) -- An Arab has been crowned Miss Israel for the first time in the country's history.
"They chose the most beautiful contestant. They wanted a beauty queen, not a political queen," said 21-year-old Rana Raslan, whose victory in the pageant late on Tuesday was headline news in Israel."I am totally Israeli and I do not think about whether I am an Arab or a Jew," said the aspiring kindergarten teacher from Haifa. "We must prove to the world that we can live here in co-existence."
Israeli Arabs make up about one million of Israel's 5.9 million citizens. They have long complained of discrimination by the state.
But in an interview with Israel Radio, Raslan said she had never personally suffered prejudice.
Her victory, however, drew some biting comments from a popular Israeli author who is a vocal advocate of women's rights.
"An Arab beauty queen has been chosen, so I'm supposed to be terribly impressed about what a wonderful and equality-minded country we have because the Arab sector has joined in this ridiculous celebration?" writer Irit Linor said.
"But have Arab women made advances in their status?" she asked in a radio interview, and questioned whether "an Arab girl in a swimsuit talking at the Miss World contest about closing the hole in the ozone layer" would help the Arab feminist cause.