Arabs in Israel (1980)

Emphasizing the importance of temporal considerations, as discussed in this volume’s introductory chapter, the present chapter summarizes the circumstances of Israel’s Arab citizens in the 1970s and reviews the historical trajectory of experience and reaction that brought them to the situation and to the challenges they faced at that time. The discussion of these challenges includes consideration of the actions of, and the relationships with, the Israeli state. Particular attention is given to the tying of Israel’s national identity and political mission to the religion of the country’s Jewish majority, which makes Israel’s Arab citizens a religious minority in a Non-Secular state, as this minority group type is described and defined in the introductory chapter. The results of the historical trajectory of Israel’s Arab citizens and of this minority’s unavoidably inferior political status are discussed with respect to economic underdevelopment, land alienation, constraints on political mobilization, and continuity and change in social and cultural orientations.