Back عرب 48 Arabic عرب 48 ARZ İsrail ərəbləri Azerbaijani ایسراییل عرب‌لری AZB ইসরায়েলের আরব নাগরিকগণ Bengali/Bangla Àrabs d'Israel Catalan ھاووڵاتییانی عەرەبی ئیسرائیل CKB Izraelští Arabové Czech Israelske arabere Danish Arabische Israelis German

Arab citizens of Israel

Arab citizens of Israel
عرب ٤٨‎,
المواطنون الفلسطينيين في إسرائيل‎
עֲרָבִים אֶזרָחֵי יִשְׂרָאֵל‎
Map of Arab localities in Israel, 2015
Total population
Green Line, 2023:
2,065,000 (21%)[1][2]
East Jerusalem and Golan Heights, 2012:
278,000 (~3%)
Regions with significant populations
 State of Israel
Languages
Arabic[a] and Hebrew
Religion
Islam (84%)[b]
Christianity (8%)[c]
Druze (8%)[3]
Related ethnic groups
Palestinian Arabs, Israeli Jews, etc. (Middle Eastern peoples)

The Arab citizens of Israel (Arab Israelis or Israeli Arabs) are the country's largest ethnic minority.[4][5] They are colloquially referred to in Arabic as either 48-Arabs (عرب ٤٨ ‘Arab Thamāniya wa-Arba‘īn) or 48-Palestinians (فلسطينيو ٤٨ Filasṭīniyyū Thamāniya wa-Arba‘īn),[6] denoting the fact that they have remained in Israeli territory since the Green Line was agreed upon between Israel and the Arab countries as part of the 1949 Armistice Agreements.[7] According to several sources, the majority of Arabs in Israel now prefer to be identified as Palestinian citizens of Israel.[8][9][10] International media outlets often use the term "Arab-Israeli" or "Israeli-Arab" to distinguish Israel's Arab citizens from the Palestinian Arabs residing in the Israeli-occupied territories.[11] They are formerly, or are descended from, those Arabs who belonged to the British Mandate for Palestine through Palestinian Citizenship Order 1925. Speakers of both Arabic and Hebrew, they self-identify in a wide range of intersectional civic (Israeli or "in Israel"), national (Arab, Palestinian, Israeli), and religious (Muslim, Christian, Druze) identities.[12]

Following the 1948 Palestinian expulsion and flight, the Arabs who remained within Israel came under Israeli citizenship law, whereas those who were in the Jordanian-annexed West Bank came under Jordanian citizenship law. Those who were in the Egyptian-occupied Gaza Strip did not come under Egyptian citizenship law and were instead bound by the All-Palestine Protectorate, which had been created by Egypt during the 1948 Arab–Israeli War. This three-way split for Palestinian Arabs' citizenship remained in place until the 1967 Arab–Israeli War, which resulted in Israel's ongoing occupation of the Palestinian territories. In 1988, Jordan renounced the 1950 sovereignty claim that it had laid to the West Bank, effectively rendering over 750,000 of the territory's Palestinian residents stateless. Through the Jerusalem Law of 1980 and the Golan Heights Law of 1981, Israel has granted citizenship eligibility to Palestinians in East Jerusalem and to Syrians and other Arabs in the Golan Heights; this status has not been extended to non-Jerusalemite Arabs in the West Bank—that is, those who live in what Israel governs as the Judea and Samaria Area. As a result of the Palestinian Declaration of Independence in 1988, the stateless Arab residents in the Palestinian territories eventually became recognized as Palestinian citizens and have been issued the Palestinian Authority passport since 1995.

The traditional vernacular of most Arab citizens of Israel is Levantine Arabic, including Lebanese Arabic in northern Israel, Palestinian Arabic in central Israel, and Bedouin Arabic across the Negev. Because the modern Arabic dialects of Israel's Arabs have absorbed many Hebrew loanwords and phrases, it is sometimes called the Israeli Arabic dialect.[13] More recently, there have been reports indicating that Arab Israelis are also increasingly feeling a sense of Israeli identity and are showing a desire for integration and shared future with mainstream Israeli society.[14][15] By religious affiliation, the majority of Arab Israelis are Muslims, but there are significant Christian and Druze minorities, among others.[16]

According to the Israel Central Bureau of Statistics, the Israeli Arab population stood at 2.1 million people in 2023, accounting for 21% of Israel's total population.[1] The majority of these Arab citizens identify themselves as Arab or Palestinian by nationality and as Israeli by citizenship.[17][18][19] They mostly live in Arab-majority towns and cities, some of which are among the poorest in the country, and generally attend schools that are separated to some degree from those attended by Jewish Israelis.[20] Arab political parties traditionally did not join governing coalitions until 2021, when the United Arab List became the first to do so.[21] In 2017, a survey reported by The Jerusalem Post showed that 60% of Arab Israelis viewed the country favourably, with this figure represented by 49% of Muslim Arabs, 61% of Christian Arabs, and 94% of Druze Arabs.[22] The Druze and the Bedouin in the Negev and the Galilee have historically expressed the strongest non-Jewish affinity to Israel and are more likely to identify as Israelis than other Arab citizens.[23][24][25][26]

Under Israeli law, Arab residents of East Jerusalem and the Golan Heights have the right to become Israeli citizens, are entitled to municipal services, and have municipal voting rights.[27] In tandem, citizenship acquisition is scarce: only 5% of Palestinians in East Jerusalem were Israeli citizens in 2022. Originally, the lack of applications for citizenship was largely due to Palestinian society's disapproval of naturalization as complicity with Israel's occupation. After the Second Intifada, this taboo began to fade, but the Israeli government re-configured the process to make it more difficult, approving only 34% of new Palestinian applications and giving a plethora of reasons for rejection. Non-citizen Palestinians cannot vote in Israel's legislative elections and must get a laissez-passer to travel abroad; many jobs are closed to them and Israel can revoke their residency status, whereby they may lose their health insurance and their right to enter Jerusalem.[28]

Arabs in Israel, by natural region (2018).
  1. ^ a b "ישראל במספרים ערב ראש השנה תשפ". www.cbs.gov.il (in Hebrew). Retrieved 24 September 2023.
  2. ^ "65th Independence Day – More than 8 Million Residents in the State of Israel" (PDF). Israel Central Bureau of Statistics. 14 April 2013. Archived from the original (PDF) on 28 November 2017. Retrieved 6 December 2013.
  3. ^ "Israel's Independence Day 2019" (PDF). Israel Central Bureau of Statistics. 1 May 2019. Retrieved 26 January 2020.
  4. ^ Robinson, Kali (14 June 2021). "What to Know about the Arab citizens of Israel". Council on Foreign Relations. Retrieved 29 November 2021.
  5. ^ "Arabs of Israel, minority with deep-seated grievances". France 24. 13 May 2021. Retrieved 29 November 2021.
  6. ^ "Long overlooked, Israel's Arab citizens are increasingly asserting their Palestinian identity". 11 June 2021. Palestinians living within Israel's internationally recognized borders are often known colloquially as "the 48 Arabs", a reference to their origins. Hundreds of thousands of Arabs fled or were expelled during the 1948 war that erupted upon the creation of the state of Israel.
  7. ^ Tucker, Spencer C.; Roberts, Priscilla (12 May 2008). The Encyclopedia of the Arab-Israeli Conflict: A Political, Social, and Military History [4 volumes]: A Political, Social, and Military History. ABC-CLIO. p. 503. ISBN 978-1-85109-842-2.
  8. ^ Rudoren, Jodi (13 July 2012). "Service to Israel Tugs at Identity of Arab Citizens". New York Times. After decades of calling themselves Israeli Arabs, which in Hebrew sounds like Arabs who belong to Israel, most now prefer Palestinian citizens of Israel.
  9. ^ Robinson, Kali (26 October 2023). "What to Know About the Arab Citizens of Israel". Council on Foreign Relations. Retrieved 2 March 2024. Israeli government documents and media refer to Arab citizens as "Arabs" or "Israeli Arabs," and some Arabs use those terms themselves. Global news media usually use similar phrasing to distinguish these residents from Arabs who live in the Palestinian territories. Most members of this community self-identify as " Palestinian citizens of Israel," and some identify just as "Palestinian" rejecting Israeli identity. Others prefer to be referred to as Arab citizens of Israel for various reasons
  10. ^ Cite error: The named reference wapo2021 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  11. ^ Farzan, Antonia Noori (13 May 2021). "Arab Israelis are rising up to protest. Here's what you need to know about their status in the country". Washington Post. Retrieved 29 November 2021.
  12. ^ Cohen, Roger (1 August 2021). "Riots Shatter Veneer of Coexistence in Israel's Mixed Towns". The New York Times. Retrieved 9 July 2022. Always a hybrid community — Israeli by citizenship, Palestinian by heritage, Muslim or Christian or Druze in religion, bilingual in Arabic and Hebrew, viewed with suspicion by some diaspora Palestinians, scarred by the trauma of their compatriots' expulsion — they developed a sharper sense of Palestinian identity even as their demands for full rights as Israeli citizens grew. Palestinian flags, rarely seen in Israel, appeared several times during the clashes. A May 18 general strike involved Palestinians in the West Bank, Gaza and Israel, the first such joint labor protest in Israel and the occupied territories in decades. The people most Israelis have long referred to as "Israeli Arabs" — or colloquially by the demeaning "Arab sector" — now often self-identify as Palestinians, a term many Israeli Jews resent, viewing it as a rejection of Israel.
  13. ^ Mendel, Y. The Creation of Israeli Arabic. Springer 2014.
  14. ^ "Even as war rages in Gaza, Israel's Arabs are feeling more Israeli". The Economist. ISSN 0013-0613. Retrieved 22 January 2024.
  15. ^ ""Israel's Arab minority feels closer to country in war, poll finds"". Reuters. 10 November 2023. Retrieved 22 January 2024.
  16. ^ "The Arab Population in Israel" (PDF). Israel Central Bureau of Statistics. Retrieved 9 July 2016.
  17. ^ "Identity Crisis: Israel and its Arab Citizens". Middle East Report (25). 4 March 2004. Archived from the original on 13 March 2011. Retrieved 14 April 2011.. "The issue of terminology relating to this subject is sensitive and at least partially a reflection of political preferences. Most Israeli official documents refer to the Israeli Arab community as "minorities". The Israeli National Security Council (NSC) has used the term "Arab citizens of Israel". Virtually all political parties, movements and non-governmental organisations from within the Arab community use the word "Palestinian" somewhere in their description – at times failing to make any reference to Israel. For consistency of reference and without prejudice to the position of either side, ICG will use both Arab Israeli and terms the community commonly uses to describe itself, such as Palestinian citizens of Israel or Palestinian Arab citizens of Israel."
  18. ^ Johnathan Marcus (2 May 2005). "Israeli Arabs: 'Unequal citizens'". BBC News. Retrieved 6 December 2007.
  19. ^ An IDI Guttman Study of 2008 shows that most Arab citizens of Israel identify as Arabs (45%). While 24% consider themselves Palestinian, 12% consider themselves Israelis, and 19% identify themselves according to religion. Poll: Most Israelis see themselves as Jewish first, Israeli second
  20. ^ 4 ways Jews and Arabs live apart in Israeli society, Ben Sales, 12 April 2016, Jewish Telegraphic Agency
  21. ^ Kershner, Isabel (2 June 2021). "The Arab party Raam makes history within coalition". The New York Times. Retrieved 13 June 2021.
  22. ^ "Survey: 60% of Arab Israelis have positive view of state". The Jerusalem Post | Jpost.com. Retrieved 16 February 2022.
  23. ^ Steven Dinero (2004). "New Identity/Identities Formulation in a Post-Nomadic Community: The Case of the Bedouin of the Negev". National Identities. 6 (3): 261–275. Bibcode:2004NatId...6..261D. doi:10.1080/1460894042000312349. S2CID 143809632.
  24. ^ The Druze Minority in Israel in the Mid-1990s, by Gabriel Ben-Dor, Jerusalem Center for Public Affairs, 1995-06-01. Retrieved on 2012-01-23.
  25. ^ Mya Guarnieri, Where is the Bedouin Intifada? Archived 21 September 2013 at the Wayback Machine The Alternative Information Center (AIC), 9 February 2012.
  26. ^ Israel's Arab citizens: Key facts and current realities Archived 4 March 2016 at the Wayback Machine, UK Task Force, June 2012.
  27. ^ "Question of Palestine: Jerusalem". United Nations. Archived from the original on 22 September 2009.
  28. ^ Cite error: The named reference e-jer-cit was invoked but never defined (see the help page).


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