Arab Citizens of Israel: The Real History

On college campuses and in city streets, people have been chanting for the past two and half years that Israel is a “settler-colonial enterprise.” Anti-Israel protestors make the audacious claim that the only Jewish country in the world is an apartheid state, and that Arabs are treated as second-class citizens.

This is a nefarious false narrative. The truth is that affirmative action, increased investment, and expanding opportunities have enabled Arab citizens to thrive as professionals, innovators, and leaders.

Examining the History of Jews and Arabs in the Region

After the Crusades, starting in 1095, drove Jews out of Palestine, they quickly reentered, creating four longstanding communities. While the nineteenth century brought substantial Jewish immigration, it also saw substantial Arab migration from Egypt, the Ottoman Empire, and Czarist Russia to areas that became Palestine. Moreover, during the Mandate period, many Arabs from the West Bank moved to the coastal areas for economic opportunity. They married women from their home villages and often went back there to help during harvest season. Thus, a large share of Arabs who fled in 1948 did not have longstanding ties to the areas that became Israel.

The British-appointed Grand Mufti led pogroms in 1921 and 1929. The 1936 revolt he led was focused on ending Jewish immigration. During a year-long lull in fighting, the British agreed to set up the Peel Commission. It recommended a Jewish state on 12% of the land with a Palestinian state on 80%, and Jerusalem remaining under British control. However, as long as there was even a miniscule Jewish state, the Grand Mufti rejected it.

When the Woodward Commission extensively toured Palestine seeking responses to the proposal, the Grand Mufti’s allies began killing Arab leaders who were open to the proposal. They announced, “Those who go to meet the commission should bring their shroud with them.” The historian Hillel Cohen estimates that his allies killed 1,000 dissident Arabs. When the revolt was renewed, it no longer reflected Arab unity.

After fleeing Palestine, the Grand Mufti worked with the Nazis during WWII. When returning to Egypt in 1947, he was anointed by The Arab League as the political leader of the Palestinian people. The League initiated the Arab Liberation Army (ALA) after the UN passed its partition plan. The first six months of 1948 conflict was a civil war, as foreign Arab armies waited until the British left on May 15^th.

The 1948 War

Given how the Grand Mufti had alienated many with his past efforts to silence opposition, a substantial number of local Arab communities sought to reach accommodations with the Zionists. As a result, historian Ilan Pappe estimated local Arabs made up as little as 10 percent of the ALA volunteers. Without a supportive local population that would supply manpower and materials, the ALA suffered from inadequate supply lines, making sustained campaigns impossible in most cases. These shortcomings were the primary reason for Zionists successes during the civil war period as they had yet to receive any armament from abroad.

Almost immediately after the British left, Lebanon refused to send fighters, as both the Christian and Shiite communities in southern Lebanon had favorable relationships with neighboring Zionist communities. Due to his antagonistic attitude towards the Grand Mufti and his designs on the West Bank, Jordanian King Abdullah’s legion chose not to enter areas that the UN had assigned to the Jewish state. It remained throughout the war in the West Bank and Jerusalem areas.

The Iraqi troops, after being initial rebuff at the Sea of Galilee, also chose to remain in the West Bank. And the Syrian forces were weakened when its Druze contingent, after some defeats, disbanded, with many joining Israeli Druze in the Zionist army. Thus, only the Egyptians and a weakened Syrian force confronted the Zionists in the areas that became the Israeli state.

When the Nakba was coined near the end of the 1948 war, it meant “the catastrophe” of having any Jewish state on Arab lands. In 1958, the Nakba was commemorated by radio stations of the United Arab Republic, calling on the world’s Arab and Muslim states to hold a symbolic five minutes to mourn the establishment of Israel without any mention of the Arab refugees. The meaning only changed to the plight of the refugees when, in the 1990s, Arafat, in order to forestall a two-state solution, made the right-of-return a central demand.

Arab Israeli Citizens in a Pre- and Post-October 7^th World

During the first two decades after independence, leaderless and dispirited Arab citizens experienced harsh treatment – military rule and land confiscation. As Arab political movements were rebuilt and with a new Zionist leadership, there were modest advancements. However, once the Oslo Accords failed, a second intifada further undermined the economic welfare of Arab citizens. Distraught and disillusioned, a large segment issued four Vision Statements demanding autonomy.

The Zionist response to these demands has led to remarkable improvements, typified by consecutive five-year plans, that dramatically improved funding to Arab towns, and provided for unprecedented Arab educational and occupational advances. Arab doctors are directors at leading hospitals, Arab Nazareth is a hi-tech hub, and many government agencies including the police have Arab citizens in senior positions.

Over the last decade, East Jerusalem’s educational system has been upgraded, enabling thousands of Palestinians there to attend Israeli universities. The municipality’s Silicon Wadi plan established an innovation quarter for hi-tech companies. Jerusalem City Council member Laura Wharton of the leftwing Meretz party said, “The thinking here now is to develop high-tech and other industries that will allow people from East Jerusalem to find employment in Jerusalem.”  Today, more East Jerusalem Palestinians favor being citizens of Israel than part of a Palestinian state.

One of the remarkable aspects of the IDF-Hamas war has been the attitude and behavior of Israel’s Arab citizens. Despite repeated provocation from the extreme rightwing led by Ben Gvir, they have maintained, if not increased, their allegiance to the state. Moreover, their relationship with their Jewish neighbors has not been frayed, but in many cases strengthened.

Immediately after the October 7th attack, Ra’am leader Mansour Abbas gave an unequivocal condemnation of Hamas’ actions. It resonated broadly among Arab citizens as evidenced by the willingness of 86.5 percent to support civilian volunteer efforts. At the eight-week mark of the IDF offensive, only a small minority of Arab citizens held the IDF solely responsible for the harm to Gazan civilians.

More than one year after the war’s start, an estimated 57.8% believed that the ongoing war had fostered a sense of shared destiny between Arabs and Jews in Israel. A large majority of respondents (71.8%) supported the inclusion of an Arab party in the Israeli government after the next elections. In a recent poll, only 9% of Arab Israeli respondents that said their Palestinian identity is the dominant component of their identity.

Unlike after the 2021 Gaza War, there was no Jewish-Muslim violence in the mixed cities. After the 2021 riots, local police launched youth programs — coordinated with mosques — that kept many young men off the streets. In Jaffa, Jews and Arabs initiated joint activities. During Ramadan 2023, local mosques organized a communal iftar and invited an Orthodox rabbi to speak. Similar dynamics occurred in other mixed cities.

There are still significant biases and some structural roadblocks to full equal opportunity. And there is a politically potent anti-Arab extreme Jewish rightwing. However, the dramatic advances have created more unity among most of the Jewish and Arab citizens of Israel.

There is no apartheid, no settler-colonialist motives, no second-class citizens in the world’s only Jewish state.

Only hope for a brighter future ahead.