The primary reasons why Arabs do not support the creation of Israel are several underlying historical, political, and cultural issues. Since the Jewish claims were largely founded on ancient holy texts instead of actual occupation and rights of the existing Arabs, Arabs denied the notion that a Jewish nation should be established in a land the Palestinians had inhabited for thousands of years. They considered the Zionist enterprise to be an expansionist movement that was encroaching on their territory and sovereignty without their approval because of what they found wrong with the Zionist pursuits and unfulfilled promises, such as the Balfour Declaration and British colonial policies. Several historical, political, and cultural factors are the primary causes of Arab resistance to the establishment of Israel.
Since Jewish demands were largely founded on ancient sacred texts but not on the fact that current Arab communities occupied and used the land, Arabs did not accept the notion that a Jewish state had to be established on the land inhabited by Palestinians thousands of years ago. Due to unfairness and failure to fulfill their promises, such as the Balfour Declaration and British colonialism, they considered the Zionist effort as an expansionist movement that was encroaching on their land and sovereignty without their permission.
The impact of the Balfour Declaration and the British Mandate
Even though Israel is now a 75-year-old Jewish nation, the Arab people in the country have never been few. The Israeli Arab people are the largest minority group in Israel, as compared to the Arabs in the West Bank and in the Gaza Strip. Although they are equal to Jewish citizens, most of them continue to endure socioeconomic challenges and discrimination. In the meantime, the two groups are segregated because of the Israel-Palestinian conflict over the decades and the theological and cultural differences. The situation is likely to erupt at times, and an epidemic of intercommunal violence in 2021 highlighted this fact.
They are overwhelmingly the descendants and the survivors of Arabs who stayed within the borders Israel had drawn after the Arab-Israeli War in 1948. The British Mandate of Palestine, which then contained approximately 1.2 million Arabs, was partitioned into the state of Israel. Approximately 150,000 of them continued residing in the territory of Mandatory Palestine that was to become the state of Israel following the displacement or exodus of more than 700,000 of them in what Arabs call the nakba, or catastrophe. They automatically became citizens and made up roughly half of Israel’s population. Israeli Arab citizens, in contrast to their Jewish counterparts, were ruled by the military until 1966.
The United Nations partition plan of 1947
When Israel annexed East Jerusalem a year later, it offered Israeli citizenship to the hundreds of thousands of Arab residents, but the majority of them turned it down. The land is regarded as occupied Palestinian territory by the UN. A few of the residents are Israeli citizens, and Arabs are included in both Israeli and Palestinian censuses. Approximately two million individuals, or 21% of Israel’s population, are Arab now. Except for a few hundred thousand people in East Jerusalem who are permanent residents and thus have fewer privileges, everyone is an Israeli citizen. Despite some of the Christians and Druze, who more often tend to be Israeli, Sunni Muslims constitute the greatest number of Arab citizens. The international news media usually use similar language to distinguish between these inhabitants and Arabs who live in the Palestinian territory. To demonstrate that they do not accept Israeli identification, most members of this community identify themselves as Palestinian citizens of Israel, though others identify as Palestinians. For a variety of reasons, some people would rather be called Arab citizens of Israel. This Backgrounder uses the phrase because it captures the political and legal reality of today.
Competing nationalisms and claims to self-determination
Although equality is acknowledged in Israel’s declaration of independence for all citizens, Arabs included, it is not specifically stated in Israel’s Basic Laws, which are the closest thing the country has to a constitution. Numerous laws, according to some rights organizations, discriminate against Arabs either explicitly or indirectly. Among the key sources of conflict is that Israel was founded as a formally Jewish nation, which, according to many of its critics, naturally undermines non-Jews and provides them with fewer rights. As an example, every Jew, including their spouses, children, and grandchildren, has a right to immigrate to Israel and automatically become citizens under the 1950 Law of Return. These privileges do not apply to non-Jews.
The lands that their family owned before being uprooted in 1948 or 1967 are not legally reclaimed by Palestinians or their descendants.
Another significant distinction is that Arab citizens are exempt from serving in the Israel Defense Forces (IDF), the nation’s military, in contrast to the great majority of Jewish Israelis. Some of them, particularly Druze and Circassians, are vilified in their communities as a result, but they can still enlist. Failure to join, though, can leave them at a grave social and financial disadvantage. To illustrate, the IDF offers a large number of Israelis a variety of financial benefits, such as affordable licenses to construct their own homes and to own land, and intimate and enduring personal connections with their fellow citizens.
The role of colonialism and international politics
The Palestinians, who see East Jerusalem as the future capital of an independent state, contest Israel’s territorial claim that the entire city is its capital and that all of its citizens are included in its censuses. The UN does not recognize this claim. The majority of Arabs in East Jerusalem are not citizens of any nation and identify as Palestinian. The majority of Arabs in the region were granted permanent resident status after rejecting Israel’s offer of citizenship following the 1967 Six-Day War. This status is now held by over 362,000 Palestinians in East Jerusalem. They have many of the same rights as Israeli citizens with permanent residency, including the freedom to live, work, and travel inside Israel, as well as access to social services and health insurance. They are unable to vote in national elections and do not have Israeli passports.
If the Israeli government finds that they or a family member is involved in terrorist or anti-Israel activities, or if East Jerusalem is no longer their principal abode, they may be deported and lose their resident status. Similarly, starting in February 2023, Arabs who are found guilty of terrorism and receive financial assistance from the Palestinian Authority may be deported and have their citizenship revoked by Israel. Arab parties presently maintain ten members in the Knesset, despite ongoing attempts to curtail their political influence, including right-wing lawmakers’ attempts to bar Arab parties from elections.
Long-term consequences of the Arab rejection
Most of the population in the cities of Israel is either Jewish or Arab. The town population of the northern Galilee, the southern Negev, and the so-called Little Triangle centered along the 1949 Armistice Line that formed the boundary between Israel and the West Bank is dominated by Arabs. The seven mixed cities, such as Haifa and Lod (the Hebrew equivalent of the Arab name al-Lyd), have more mixed populations and accommodate approximately 10 percent of the Arab people. However, even these places frequently have neighborhoods that are primarily Arab or Jewish.
The standard of living in almost all Arab towns and cities now is lower than in primarily Jewish ones. Intense debate is fueled by this isolation and socioeconomic inequality. According to some analysts, Israel has successfully created a society that is unequal and discriminatory.” In theory, there is no such thing as redlining or official segregation akin to Jim Crow. Rashid Khalidi, a Palestinian American historian, claims that in reality, you do. On the other hand, Arik Rudnitzky of the Israel Democracy Institute (IDI) tells CFR that there is no expert agreement on how to define this separation. Terminology like “segregation,” “de facto separation,” or the more conservative “voluntary separation” represents individual worldviews.
What is the relationship between Arabs and Israelis?
Arabs and Jews coexist peacefully in the majority portions of Israel, even after a history of enmity between the two dating back to the Israeli-Palestinian war. Apparently, their collaboration was particularly prominent when the country had to manage the COVID-19 pandemic since healthcare workers served patients representing different communities.
Tensions escalated in 2021, resulting in a spate of sectarian violence, an effort to expel Palestinians in East Jerusalem, police raids of the al-Aqsa Mosque in Jerusalem over the Muslim holy month of Ramadan, the beginning of a days-long conflict between Israel and Hamas, and mob attacks on both the Palestinian and Israeli communities. The division swiftly spread throughout Israel, especially in mixed areas like Lod. The harm to intercommunal relations was “less significant than might be expected,” according to an IDI poll conducted three months later among Arab and Jewish residents.
