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Israeli Arabs, also referred to as Arab-Israelis, Arab citizens of Israel, or Palestinian who hold Israeli citizenship, Palestinian Arab, are Arabs who are citizens of Israel. Israeli Arabs are full citizens of the State of Israel, with equal protection under the law, and full rights of due process. Apart from the Druze (who are Arabs but form a distinct minority group) most Israeli Arabs are descendants of the roughly 150,000 Palestinians who remained within Israel borders during the 1948 Arab-Israeli War. As many as 200,000 have emigrated into Israel from the Gaza Strip and West Bank and received citizenship under family unification provisions. This constitutes an increase of approximately 20% in the Arab population of Israel in this period - "a major change in the politically and culturally sensitive population balance." . Many Israeli Arabs share family and other ties with the Palestinians in these areas and in other Arab countries.

Israel also has a large population of Sephardi and Mizrahi Jews who fled or were expelled from Arab countries, mostly after 1948, or who are the descendants of those refugees. They are Israeli but are usually not identified as Arabs (although many of them are traditionally Arabic-speaking and hold on to Arab culture, tradition, cuisine,...).

Arabic, which is mostly spoken by the Arab minority, is one of Israel's official languages. In 2004, Israeli Arab citizens made up about 19.5% of Israel's population . It is estimated that an additional 170,000 Palestinians live illegally in Israel amongst the Israeli Arab population. Israeli Arabs sometimes consider themselves Palestinian, sometimes Israeli, and sometimes both. The majority of Israeli Arabs are Muslim and a minority are Christian. There are two additional distinct subgroups: followers of the Druze religion (about 120,000), and the Bedouin (170,000), who are predominantly Muslim .

Most Palestinian residents of East Jerusalem (about 250,000) are not Israeli citizens, but hold legal permanent resident status to live and travel within Israel. According to 1988 Israeli Supreme court ruling, this status also makes them eligible for Israel Social Security benefits and state-provided health care .

Well-known Israeli Arabs include the politician and novelist Emile Habibi, film directors Elie Suleiman and Hany Abu-Assad, the actress Hiam Abbass and the politician Azmi Bishara. There are ten Israeli Arabs sitting as members of the 16th Knesset (there are a total of 120 seats), and there is currently an Arab judge (Justice Salim Jubran) sitting in the Israeli Supreme Court. Ariel Sharon's 2001 cabinet included as a minister an Israeli Arab, Salah Tarif, and in March of 2005 Oscar Abu Razaq was appointed Director General of the Ministry of Interior.

Organisations representing Israeli Arabs allege that the population faces discrimination in a number of respects, arising from legislation and government policy. Since the mid 1990s the government has adopted affirmative action policies in recruiting Israeli Arabs to the civil service.

Apart from the Druze, Israeli Arabs are not required to serve in the Israel Defense Forces, although some, notably among the Bedouin, volunteer to serve.

Demographics and Subdivisions

The number of Muslim legal residents (Including East Jerusalem permanent residents) in Israel at the start of 2004 stands at around 1,350,000, about 19.5% of Israel’s population. Muslims (including Bedouins) make up 82% of the entire Israeli Arab population. About 9% are Druze, and 9% are Christians.

Roughly 25% of the children born in Israel today are Muslim, and as result, Israel’s Muslim population is mostly young: 42% of Muslims are children under the age of 15, compared with 26% of the Jewish population. The percentage of people over 65 is less than 3% for Muslims, compared with 12% for the Jewish population.

Population growth

The Israel Central Bureau of Statistics reported that Israeli Muslims have a natural reproduction rate that is more than double that of the Jewish population (their rate of increase being 3.3% compared to 1.4%).

According to forecasts, the Muslim population will rise to over 2,000,000 people, or 24-26% of the population within the next 15 years. They will also comprise 85% of the Israeli Arab population in 2020 (3% up from 2005).

Since more than 50% of the Arab population is under nineteen years old, demographers expect the population growth trend to continue since most of the Arab population in Israel will only reach reproductive age over the next 20 years.

Dr. Wahid Abd Al-Magid, the editor of Al-Ahram's "Arab Strategic Report" suggested that "The way to end the Arab-Israeli conflict is through changing the demographic balance within Israel" , he predicts that "...The Arabs of 1948 (i.e. Israeli Arabs) may become a majority in Israel in 2035, and they will certainly be the majority in 2048."

Muslim Israeli Arabs

Muslim Arabs, excluding Bedouins, comprise about 70% of the Israeli Arab population. They live predominantly in the north, although a sizable number reside in East Jerusalem and some towns in the south. They are not required to serve in the Israeli military, and few volunteer. In addition, of all Israeli Arab subgroups, they have probably the largest portion of people who identify themselves as Palestinian, often in addition to Israeli.

Christian Israeli Arabs

Christian Israeli Arabs comprise about 9% of the Israeli Arab population, and reside mostly in the north, Nazareth having the largest Christian Arab population. They are active in Israeli politics and civil life, and have a judge on the Israeli Supreme Court.

Bedouins

The term "Bedouin" or Badawi in Arabic defines a range of nomadic desert-dwelling ethnic groups spanning from the western Sahara desert to the Middle East. They are traditionally a nomadic people, although many of them have settled permanently and become fellaheen (land workers). The largest Bedouin locality in Israel is Rahat. The Israeli government encourages Bedouins to settle as permanent residents of particular towns, but many live in "unrecognized villages" against the government's wishes and with few social services.

A large portion of Bedouins volunteers for the Israeli army, although they are generally not required to.

Druze

The Druze are an ethnicity residing in many countries, although predominantly in Israel, Lebanon and Syria. Israeli Druze mainly live in northern Israel, notably in Daliyat Al-Karmel near Haifa. There are also Druze localities in the Golan Heights, which are claimed by Syria.

Most Druze identify themselves as Israelis and are required to serve in the IDF per a request from their leaders. The Israeli Druze, like all Druze, follow a unique Druze religion which stemmed from Islam, although unlike Syrian Druze for instance, Israeli Druze generally resent being referred to as Muslim. Many of them do not even identify as Arabs and claim to have nothing in common with Arabs other than language. However, some, notably Salman Natur and sheikh Jamal Mu'addi, identify as Palestinian Arabs.

Location/geography

In total, 71% of the Arab population lives in 116 different localities throughout Israel. In these localities, Arabs are a heavy majority. Only nine of the 116 Arab localities are cities. The other localities are ruled by an Arab local authority or else they are strictly rural areas.

Almost 40% of the country’s Muslims (400,000 people) live in various predominantly-Arab communities in the north, the biggest of which is the city of Nazareth, which has 40,000 Muslim residents. Nazareth has the largest Arab population of the cities which are mainly Arab.

24% of Arabs live in cities that have a Jewish majority. These cities are Jerusalem, Haifa, Tel Aviv-Yaffo, Akko (Acre), Lod, Ramla, Ma'alot-Tarshiha, and Nazerat Illit. Of the remaining 5%, approximately 4% live in Bedouin communities in the Negev, and 1% live in areas that are almost completely Jewish.

Health

Infant death rates per thousand live births decreased significantly during a 35-year (1961-1996) period. In the Muslim population, the rate dropped from 46.4 per thousand births to 10.0; among Christians the decrease was from 42.1 to 6.7; among the Druze it dropped from 50.4 to 8.9 deaths.

Healthcare improvements have also led to a lower infant mortality rate. In 1970, the infant mortality rate for Arabs was 32 deaths for every thousand births. In 2000, the rate had significantly decreased to 8.6 per every thousand. Out of the Arab population, Muslims have the highest rate of infant mortality with 9.1 per every thousand. Improved living standard, an improvement in environmental conditions and an increase in years of schooling also contributed to the decrease in infant mortality.

Improvements in medicine have largely contributed to the increase in the Arab population, as life expectancy has increased 27 years since 1948. Life expectancy in Israel is 74.6 years for men.

The most common health-related causes of death are heart disease and cancer. Diabetes is also common among the Arab population with 14% diagnosed with the disease in 2000.

In the 2002 budget, Israel's health ministry allocated just 1.6m shekels (£200,000) to Arab communities of its 277m-shekel (£35m) budget to develop healthcare facilities.

Education

The average number of years of education for Israeli Arabs have doubled from five years in 1970 to ten years in 2000. By the year 2000, 59% of Arab women had obtained at least eight years of education. Women also made up 51% of the Arab school system in Israel.

Christian Arabs continue to receive more education than Muslims or Druze. While 27% of Christian Arabs had gone through twelve years of schooling, only 14% of Muslims and Druze completed that same number. In 1999, 46% of Arab students in 12th grade graduated from high school. In that same year, 52% of Jewish students graduated.

Twenty-six percent of those Arab students who graduated went on to receive some kind of secondary education. Arabs comprised approximately 7% of all students at Israeli universities.

The rate of female literacy in Israel is 88% among Arabs.

The median years of schooling of Arab Israelis rose over a 35-year period (1961-1996) from 1.2 to 10.4 years.

Education levels in the Arab sector are relatively lower than those in the Jewish sector, often leading to lower incomes.

Human Rights Watch issued a report in 2001, which stated: "Government-run Arab schools are a world apart from government-run Jewish schools. In virtually every respect, Palestinian Arab children get an education inferior to that of Jewish children, and their relatively poor performance in school reflects this." The report found striking differences in virtually every aspect of the education system. If found that The Education Ministry did not allocate as much money per head for Palestinian Arab children as it did for Jewish children. Their classes were 20 percent larger on average.

Legal and political Status

Arab Israelis are citizens of Israel with equal political rights. In 1948, Israel's Declaration of Independence called upon the Arab inhabitants of Israel to "participate in the upbuilding of the State on the basis of full and equal citizenship and due representation in all its provisional and permanent institutions".

The political involvement of the Arab sector is manifested in both national and municipal elections. There are several Arab political parties, in addition to the left-wing Hadash party which receives most of its electoral support from the Arab sector. The larger Israeli parties also have a minority of Arab members. A number of Israeli Arabs have been elected as members of the Knesset for Hadash, Labour, Meretz and Likud as well as the Arab parties. Arab citizens run the political and administrative affairs of their own municipalities. Arab Israelis have also held various government positions, including that of deputy minister. At present a member of the Druze community is serving as a government minister.

The Declaration also promises that Israel will "ensure complete equality of social and political rights to all its inhabitants irrespective of religion, race or sex" and guarantees "freedom of religion, conscience, language, education and culture".

Israel has extensive anti-discrimination laws. Moreover, since the founding of the State, the status of Arab Israeli women has been significantly improved by legislation stipulating equal rights for women and prohibition of polygamy and child marriage.

Since Israel's establishment, Arab citizens have been exempted from compulsory conscription in the Israel Defense Forces (IDF). This exemption was made out of consideration for their family, religious and cultural affiliations with the Palestinians and the rest of the Arab world, given the on-going conflict. Still, volunteer military service is encouraged and IDF service was made mandatory for Druze men at the request of their community leaders.

On March 3, 1999 Abdel Rahman Zuabi took his seat as the first Arab on the Supreme Court. Zuabi was Deputy President of the Nazareth District Court. He was elevated to the post by Justice Minister Tzahi Hanegbi, who on March 2 said that " appointment highlights the successful integration of the Arab community into the life of the state."

In May 2004, Salim Jubran was selected as the first Arab to hold a permanent appointment as a Supreme Court Justice. Jubran, 57, is a native of Haifa, born to a Christian family with roots among the Maronites in Lebanon. Jubran's expertise lies in the field of criminal law, and he is known for his tough stand on sex and drug-related crimes.

On Dec 2005, member of Israeli Knesset Azmi Bishara told an audience in Lebanon that "(Israeli Arabs) are like all Arabs, only with Israeli citizenship forced upon them...Return Palestine to us and take your democracy with you. We Arabs are not interested in it." ". Bishara has been a critic of what he feels is the lack of democracy in Israel, as he champions a state for "all of its citizens" and believes the Israeli state provides only democracy for certain favored groups.

On Feb 2006 member of Knesset Ahmed Tibbi called for establishing an Islamic Caliphate over what he called "Arab and Muslim land" and rejected "Israelization" of Arab in Israel.

Political development

The Israeli Communist Party played a major role in mobilising the Israeli Arab community throughout these years and in demanding full equality for Arab citizens. Its newspapers and journals were important outlets for Arab Israeli expression and cultural production. In 1965 the first attempt was made to stand an independent Arab list for Knesset elections, with the radical group al-Ard forming the United Arab List. The list was, however, banned. In 1966 martial law was lifted completely, and the government set about dismantling most of the discriminatory laws, while Arab citizens were, theoretically if not always in practice, granted the same rights as Jewish citizens. The defeat of the Arab forces in the Six Day War the following year was a turning point in the political development of the Israeli Arab community, as it appeared to prove the durability of the state of Israel.

The 1970s saw a number of major developments in the political history of the Israeli Arab community. In 1974, a committee of Arab mayors and municipal council chairmen was established which was able to play an important role in representing the community and bringing its pressure to bear on the Israeli government. This was followed in 1975 by the formation of the Committee for the Defence of the Land, which sought to prevent continuing land expropriations.

That same year, a political breakthrough took place with the election of Israeli Arab poet Tawfiq Zayad, a Communist Party member, as mayor of Nazareth, and the election of a strong communist presence to the town council.

The next year was marked for the Israeli Arab community by the killing of six demonstrators at a protest against land expropriations and house demolitions. The date of the protest, 30 March, has since been commemorated annually as Land Day.

Recent developments

The political face of the Israeli Arab community has continued to change, with a more active participation of Israeli Arabs in the Labour Party in the 1992 elections but a large-scale alienation of them from that party after the Qana massacre of 1996 and the harsh response of the Israeli government to the second Intifada in 2000.

Meanwhile, nationalist parties such as Balad (Israel) have continued to gain support, as has the Islamic Movement, divided between a conciliatory and a radical faction. Hadash, the left-wing coalition based around the Communist Party, still gains strong support in the Israeli Arab community, while Likud has made considerable inroads in the Druze vote.

To combat what they call "violent elements in Arab society" Israeli Arab leaders urge police action against weapons in Arab sector, this was after "over 20 Arab municipality heads have been attacked in recent months as part of an attempt to change their positions or in response to decisions they made. "

Work and economic situation

As of 2001, only 40% of Arab persons fifteen and older were part of the work force in Israel. Jews, on the other hand, were shown to have 60% of their population participating in the labor force. One reason for the lower rate of Arab workers is the extremely low proportion of Arab women in the work force. Only 15% of Arab women participate in the labor force, while Jewish women contribute 53% of their population. In both Jewish and Arab populations, younger women are more likely to work. Seventy-nine percent of Jewish women aged 25-34 are part of the work force, while the Arab percentage is only 22%.

Many Arab men work in construction and agriculture. Only seven percent of Jewish men work in construction. Arabs have a much higher unemployment rates that Jews. In 2000, 12% of Arab men were unemployed while 7.6% of Jewish men were out of work.

The Arab population in Israel tends to earn less money than the Jewish population. Arabs earn approximately 60% of the yearly wage of Jews.

The majority of Arab Israelis live in small communities with limited economic infrastructure. This plays a contributing factor in employment in unskilled or semiskilled fields, as well as the higher overall rates of unemployment.

The lack of easy access to places of employment can also prevent employment commensurate with the skill or education level of the job seeker.

Participation of women in the work force is still very low in the Arab sector, further reducing the average family income.

Minority communities often face developmental challenges, especially when a language different from that spoken by the majority group is used at home and at school. There are several other factors that explain the reason why the gap between economic development in the Arab sector and that of the Jewish sector has yet to be closed, among them:

The average family size in the Arab sector is far higher than that of Jewish families, greatly reducing the relative number of financial providers per dependent.

Service in the Israeli Defense Forces gives veterans certain economic and other benefits. Although Arab Israeli youth who do not volunteer for army service gain a two-to-three year head start in their higher education or in joining the workforce, this does not always compensate for missing out on the benefits and training enjoyed by veterans.

In the 2002 budget, Israel's housing ministry spent about £14 per person in Arab communities compared with up to £1,500 per person in Jewish ones.

Economic development of the Israeli Arab community

The predominant feature of the Israeli Arab community's economic development after 1949 was its transformation from a predominantly peasant farming population to, in large degree, a proletarian industrial workforce. It has been suggested that the economic development of the community was marked by distinct stages. The first period, until 1967, was characterised by this process of proletarianisation. From 1967 on, economic development of the population was encouraged and a Palestinian bourgeoisie began to develop on the margin of the Israeli bourgeoisie. From the 1980s on, the community developed its economic and, in particular, industrial potential .

Pluralism and cultural identity

Israel is a melting pot society, yet as a multi-ethnic, multi-cultural, multi-religious and multi-lingual society, Israel has a high level of informal segregation patterns. While groups are not separated by official policy, a number of different sectors within the society have chosen to lead a segregated life-style, maintaining their strong cultural, religious, ideological and/or ethnic identity.

The vast majority of Arab Israelis have chosen to maintain their distinct identity and not assimilate. The community's separate existence is facilitated through the use of Arabic, Israel's second official language; a separate Arab/Druze school system; Arabic literature, theater and mass media; and maintenance of independent Muslim, Druze and Christian denominational courts which adjudicate matters of personal status.

In the chapter "The Question of the Identity of the Citizens of Israel" there is a section entitled: "How do the Arab Citizens of Israel Define Themselves?"((H. Adan, V. Ashkenazi, B. Alperson, To Be Citizens in Israel - A Jewish and Democratic State - Civics Textbook for Upper Grades in General and Religious Schools, 2000):

"National Identity ; There are two versions of the national component: Arab - those who stress the Arab national component and give expression to the link to Pan-Arab nationalism in the Middle East. Palestinian - those who stress the Palestinian national component and give expression to the tie to Palestine, that is the Land of Israel in the eyes of the Palestinians. Identity as Citizen. Those, who stress the component of citizenship, define their identity as Israelis and thus emphasize their link to the State of Israel.

Religious Identity  ; Those who stress the religious component - their belonging to the Muslim or the Christian religion.

Among Arab citizens there are those who will, in defining their identity, stress a number of components and there are those who will stress one only. For example: Arab-Israeli, Arab-Palestinian, Palestinian, Palestinian-Israeli, Arab-Palestinian-Israeli" (pp. 42, 5, 23, 27, 35, 40, 42).

While the development of inter-group relations between Israel's Arabs and Jews has been hindered by deeply rooted differences in religion, values and political beliefs, the future of the Arab Israeli sector is closely tied to that of the State of Israel. Though they coexist as two self-segregated communities, over the years Jewish and Arab Israelis have come to accept each other, acknowledging the uniqueness and aspirations of each community and participating in a growing number of joint endeavors. These coexistence effort suffered a very serious blow because of the October 2000 riots (Israel)#October 2000 Riots

An excellent example of such a venture is the Citizen Accord Forum, established last year by the Deputy Foreign Minister, Rabbi Michael Melchior (then Minister of Israeli Society and the World Jewish Community). The goal of the Forum is to reduce the schism existing between Jews and Arabs in Israel and to develop the country's civil society. The Citizen Accord Forum, which has over 500 active volunteers, has encouraged coexistence between Jewish and Arab citizens and the development of a relationship based on values of respect and mutual understanding.

Discrimination

According to the 2004 U.S. State Department Country Reports on Human Rights Practices for Israel and the occupied territories, the Israeli government "did little to reduce institutional, legal, and societal discrimination against the country's Arab citizens."

Examples of what the State Department report found include the following:

• According to the report, Muslims enjoy full freedom of religion and government "did not affect the rights of Muslims to practice their faith" according to "Legislation enacted in 1961 afforded the Muslim courts exclusive jurisdiction to rule in matters of personal status concerning Muslims. Secular courts have primacy over questions of inheritance, but parties, by mutual agreement, may bring cases to religious courts. Muslims, since 2001, also have the right to bring matters such as alimony and property division associated with divorce cases to civil courts in family-status matters."

• "According to a 2003 Haifa University study, a tendency existed to impose heavier prison terms to Arab citizens than to Jewish citizens. Human rights advocates claimed that Arab citizens were more likely to be convicted of murder and to have been denied bail."

• "government spending on children was proportionally lower in predominantly Arab areas than in Jewish areas. ... According to the Government's February 2002 report to the U.N., government investment per Arab pupil was approximately 60 percent of investment per Jewish pupil. ... According to Human Rights Watch, during the year, the Government provided 1 teacher for every 16 Jewish primary school children compared to 1 teacher for every 19.7 Arab children."

• "The Orr Commission of Inquiry's report ... stated that the 'Government handling of the Arab sector has been primarily neglectful and discriminatory,' that the Government 'did not show sufficient sensitivity to the needs of the Arab population, and did not take enough action to allocate state resources in an equal manner.' As a result, 'serious distress prevailed in the Arab sector in various areas. Evidence of distress included poverty, unemployment, a shortage of land, serious problems in the education system, and substantially defective infrastructure.'"

The Or Commission report also claims that activities by Islamic organizations such as the aforementioned society may be using religious pretenses to further political aims. The commission describes such actions as a factor in 'inflaming' the Muslim population in Israel against the authorities, and cites the al-Sarafand mosque episode, with Muslims' attempts to restore the mosque and Jewish attempts to stop them, as an example of the 'shifting of dynamics' of the relationship between Muslims and the Israeli authorities.

• "In November, the Israeli-Arab advocacy NGO Sikkuy's annual report stated that 45 percent of Arab families were poor, in contrast to 15 percent of Jewish families, and that the rate of infant mortality in the Arab sector was 8 out of 1,000 births--twice that of the Jewish population."

• "According to a report by Mossawa, racist violence against Arab citizens has increased, and the Government has not done enough to prevent this problem. The annual report cited 17 acts of violence by Jewish citizens against Arab citizens. ... A Haifa University poll released in June revealed that over 63 percent of Jews believed that the Government should encourage Israeli Arabs to emigrate."

• "Approximately 93 percent of land in the country was public domain, including that owned by the state and some 12.5 percent owned by the Jewish National Fund (JNF). All public land by law may only be leased, not sold. The JNF's statutes prohibit the sale or lease of land to non-Jews. In October, civil rights groups petitioned the High Court of Justice claiming that a bid announcement by the Israel Land Administration (ILA) involving JNF land was discriminatory in that it banned Arabs from bidding."

• "Israeli-Arab advocacy organizations have challenged the Government's policy of demolishing illegal buildings in the Arab sector, and claimed that the Government was more restrictive in issuing building permits in Arab communities than in Jewish communities, thereby not accommodating natural growth. In February, security forces demolished several homes allegedly built without authorization in the Arab village of Beineh."

• "In June, the Supreme Court ruled that omitting Arab towns from specific government social and economic plans is discriminatory. This judgment builds on previous assessments of disadvantages suffered by Arab Israelis."

• "Israeli-Arab organizations have challenged as discriminatory the 1996 "Master Plan for the Northern Areas of Israel," which listed as priority goals increasing the Galilee's Jewish population and blocking the territorial contiguity of Arab towns."

• "Israeli Arabs were underrepresented in the student bodies and faculties of most universities and in higher professional and business ranks. The Bureau of Statistics noted that the median number of school years for the Jewish population is 3 years more than for the Arab population. Well educated Arabs often were unable to find jobs commensurate with their level of education. According to Sikkuy, Arab citizens held approximately 60 to 70 of the country's 5,000 university faculty positions."

• "Israeli Arabs were not required to perform mandatory military service and, in practice, only a small percentage of Israeli Arabs served in the military. Those who did not serve in the army had less access than other citizens to social and economic benefits for which military service was a prerequisite or an advantage, such as housing, new-household subsidies, and employment, especially government or security-related industrial employment. Regarding the latter, for security reasons, Israeli Arabs generally were restricted from working in companies with defense contracts or in security-related fields. In December, the Ivri Committee on National Service issued official recommendations to the Government that Israel Arabs not be compelled to perform national or "civic" service, but be afforded an opportunity to perform such service".

In February 2006, the Israeli Supreme Court ruled that the government education development plan discriminated against Israeli Arabs and mandated that the government should come up with a new plan within a year.

Initial measures taken by the Israeli government

The Israeli-Arab population was subject to a number of controlling measures and, in particular, Israeli Arabs were subject to martial law , which required, inter alia, that they apply for permission from the military governor to travel more than a given distance from their registered residence. Martial law was lifted from the Arab population of predominantly-Jewish cities some years later, but remained in place in Arab areas until 1966.

A variety of legal measures facilitated the transfer of land abandoned by Arabs to state ownership. These included the Absentee Property Law of 1950 which allowed the state to take control of land belonging to land owners who emigrated to other countries and the Land Acquisition Law of 1953 which authorised the Ministry of Finance to transfer expropriated land to the state. Other common legal expedients included the use of emergency regulations to declare land a closed military zone, followed by the use of Ottoman legislation on abandoned land to take control of the land. .

Palestinians who had left their homes during the period of armed conflict but remained in what had become Israeli territory were considered to be "present absentees", and in some cases refused permission to return to their original homes, which were expropriated and turned over to state ownership as was the property of Palestinian refugees. Notable cases of "present absentees" included the residents of Sepphoris and the Galilee villages of Bir'am and Ekrit. The legal efforts by residents of Bir'am and Ekrit to be allowed to return to their homes continued into the twenty-first century.

Modifications to Citizenship and Entry law

On July 31, 2003 Israel enacted the Citizenship and Entry into Israel Law (Temporary Provision), 5763-2003, a one year amendment to Israel's Citizenship Law denying citizenship and Israeli residence to Palestinians who reside in the West Bank or Gaza Strip and who marry Israelis, though this rule is waived for any Palestinian "who identifies with the State of Israel and its goals, when he or a member of his family has taken concrete action to advance the security, economy or any other matter important to the State." Upon expiry the law was extended for six months in August 2004, and again for 4 months in February 2005. Although this law affected all Israelis, it disproportionately affected Israeli Arabs, and was considered by many to be highly discriminatory.. On May 8, 2005, The Israeli ministerial committee for issues of legislation once again amended the Citizenship and Entry into Israel Law, to restrict citizenship and residence in Israel only to Palestinian men of up to age of 35, and Palestinian women of up to age of 25. The new bill was formulated in accordance with Shin Bet statistics showing that involvement in terror attacks declines with age. This newest amendment, in practice, removes restrictions from half of the Palestinian population requesting legal status through marriage in Israel. Furthermore, Palestinian children under the age of 16 who have one parent who married an Israeli can now obtain citizenship..

Participation of Israeli Arabs in terror acts against Israeli citizens

Since 2001, a growing number of Israeli Arabs have participated in terror acts against Israeli civilians: On September 9, 2001 was the first (and only) Israeli Arab suicide bomber attack, on a group of soldiers and civilians disembarking a train in the Nahariya station, killing 3 people and wounding at least 90.

Over the next few years, Israeli Arabs and residents of East Jerusalem took part in many attacks and assisted Palestinian suicide bombers reach cities in Israel. Several Israeli Arabs have been convicted of espionage for Hezbollah.,,, In 2001, at least 110 Israeli Arabs were detained last year on suspicion of involvement in terrorist activities – a record high, and about three times the number in the previous year. Despite those events, israeli security sources said they still consider Israeli Arab involvement with terrorism to be the exception rather than the rule. The rule is that the vast majority of Israeli Arabs, regardless of their political viewpoints, see terrorism as the red line.

On March 9, 2004, an Israeli Arab woman, Lina Jarbuni, 29, of Arrabeh in the Galilee, was sentenced to 17 years in prison by the Haifa district court for helping members of the Islamic Jihad who had been planning to carry out terror attacks inside Israel. Jarbuni helped one of them obtain an Israeli ID card, rented an apartment in Israel, and also opened a bank account on behalf of the man and an accomplice. She was convicted of conspiracy to commit murder, contact with a foreign agent, and helping the enemy at a time of war.

On October 9, 2005, three Israeli Arab men were convicted of plotting to blow up the Azrieli Towers in Tel Aviv, and a plot to plant a bomb on railroad tracks near Netanya. The Tel Aviv District Court also convicted them of attempting to provide assistance to a foreign enemy during time of war. One of the Arabs was convicted of contacting a foreign enemy agent. The three, Dubian Natzirat, 27; Amir Zivati, 20; and Mugahad Dukan, 19; all from Taibe, admitted their guilt and were convicted under a plea bargain arrangement.

On December 12, 2005, Hamas sent a greeting to the "Arabs of 1948" (i.e Israeli Arabs) on their help to Hamas using a video that was translated to English on Hamas web site.

On March 13, 2006, Tel Aviv District Court sentenced Lenin Altouri, 24, from the Israeli Arab village of Kassem, to 16 years in prison, after he was convicted of being in contact with a foreign agent with the intention to betray the country. Altouri was convicted of plotting to aid Hamas kidnap soldiers and transfer them to Hebron or Ramallah.

Trivia

In 1999, an Arab woman was named Miss Israel for the first time in the nation's history. "I am totally Israeli, and I do not think about whether I am an Arab or a Jew," 21-year-old Rana Raslan, from Haifa, said at the pageant. "They wanted a beauty queen, not a political queen." News of her victory made headlines across Israel and the world.

In January 2005, The Palestinian Football Association signed Israeli Arab Azmi Nassar as their new national team coach for a two-year contract.

See also

• Arab al-Mawasi massacre (Nov. 1948) : 14 Israeli Arabs killed
  
• Kafr Qasim massacre (Oct. 1956): 48 Israeli Arabs killed
  
• Land Day (March 1976) 6 Israeli Arabs killed
  
• October 2000 riots (Israel): (Oct. 2000) 12 Israeli Arabs killed
  
• The Shfar'am attack: (Aug. 2005) 4 Israeli Arabs killed
  

Footnotes

1. Féron, p. 38 Kodmani-Darwish, p. 126, Féron, pp. 37 and 40
2. Féron, p. 94
3. Féron, pp. 94, 97-99
4. Féron, p. 105
5. Kodmani, p. 128
6. Féron, pp. 40-41, see also Kodmani, p. 127
7. Kodmani, p. 126
8. Kodmani, p. 129
9. Féron, p. 41
10. Féron, p. 106
11. Schenk, p. 87-88

Bibliography

• Féron, Valerie, Palestine(s): Les déchirures, Paris, Editions du Felin, 2001. ISBN 2866453913
• Kodmani-Darwish, Bassma, La Diaspora Palestinienne, Paris: Presses Universitaires de France, 1997. ISBN 2130484867
• Schenk, Bernadette "Druze Identity in the Middle East", in Salibi, Kamal, ed, The Druze: Realities and Perceptions, London, Druze Heritage Foundation, 2005

External links

• SECOND CLASS; Discrimination Against Palestinian Arab Children in Israel's Schools (The full text of the Human Rights Watch 2001 report)
• Adalah, the Legal Centre for Arab Minority Rights in Israel
• The Association of Forty - the association for the recognition of the Arab Unrecognized Villages in Israel
• Israeli Arabs (Israel Country Study, US Dept. of the Army)
• Inside 1948 Palestine (Islamonline.net)
• The Galilee Society: The Arab National Society for Health Research and Services
• Ittijah, Union of Arab-based Community Organisations
• Arab Israelis (Jewish Virtual Library)
• Mossawa, The Advocacy Center for Arab Citizens of Israel
• Israel and the occupied territories (U.S. State Department 2004 Country Reports on Human Rights Practices)
• "The demographics point to a binational state" - an haaretz article suggesting "swapping heavily populated areas" as a solution to the Israeli-Arab conflict
• I Am a Lucky Arab (anonymous article, purportedly by an Israeli Arab, in FrontPageMag.com)
• THE ARABS IN ISRAEL: A SURGING NEW IDENTITY
• `What are Israeli Arabs? Are they Jewish? their lives are much better in Israel than they could be in Jordan' - Israeli Arab in the eyes of Arabs in Saudi Arabia and Jordan
• Involvement of Israeli Arabs in terrorism

• Israeli society
• Arab