Palestinian Citizens in an Ethnic Jewish State: Identities in Conflict

This book examines the situation of Arab Palestinian citizens of Israel, analyzing how the Palestinian collective identity has been shaped by social and political forces and how it poses major challenges to Israel’s policies, structure, and identity. Nadim Rouhana draws on surveys, interviews, and archival research to examine the evolvement of Palestinian identity in response to Israel’s three guiding—and conflicting—principles: Israel as a Jewish state, as a democracy, and as a state with deep security needs. The consequences of Israel’s ideology, policy, and practices toward the Arab minority; the effect of major developments in the Arab world, particularly in the Palestinian communities in exile, in the West Bank and Gaza; and the impact of changes within the Palestinian community in Israel such as demography, level of education, socioeconomic structure, and political culture. Arguing that in a multiethnic state, conflict becomes inevitable unless citizenship emerges as a common and equally meaningful identity to the various ethnonational groups, he concludes by exploring the possibilities of negotiating a new and common identity between Israel and its Arab minority.