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Email this citationCIAO DATE: 07/04
Identity Crisis: Israel and Its Arab Citizens
March 4, 2004
Abstract
For much of its history, Israel has focused on the neighbouring Arab states and Palestinians living in the occupied territories. Too often overlooked has been the status of those Israeli citizens who are Arab.1 They have attracted national attention only at times of heightened crisis, and even then in a highly reactive fashion. Unless systemic inequities facing Arab Israelis are addressed and an inclusive process is launched to define the state's long-term attitude towards this segment of its citizenry, prospects for internal strife and instability will remain high.
Israel's Palestinian Arab citizens -- almost 20 per cent of the population -- are largely cut off from the geographical, cultural, economic and political mainstream. They enjoy political rights unknown to many in the region but nonetheless are subject to various forms of discrimination, some direct and official, others less so. These affect the three most fundamental assets of democratic society: resources, rights and representation. Some of the more grievous cases involve the predominantly Bedouin population of the so-called unrecognised villages, which is deprived of rudimentary services and subjected to seemingly arbitrary home demolitions.
