Terms for Palestinian Citizens of Israel

The population at issue consists primarily of full citizens descended from Palestinians who remained within Israel after the 1948 War of Independence.[1] Many self-identify as Palestinian.[6] A reference overview places about 2 million Palestinians in Israel and describes Palestinian Arab citizens as roughly one-fifth of the Israeli population.[7]

The group is religiously and ethnically diverse. Israeli government background material categorizes it as including Muslim Arabs, Bedouin Arabs, Christian Arabs, Druze, and Circassians.[5] The Jerusalem Institute for Policy Research's administrative statistics define "Arabs" as Muslims, Christian Arabs, and Druze — an institutional category that does not map directly onto any identity label.[8] A U.S. State Department report described Israeli Arabs as constituting about 20 percent of the population and encompassing Muslim, Christian, and Druze communities.[9]

An important distinction concerns Arab Palestinians in East Jerusalem. Following the expansion of Jerusalem's boundaries after 1967, approximately 68,700 Arab Palestinians incorporated into the city were granted residency status rather than Israeli citizenship.[8] Because references to "Arab citizens of Israel" specifically denote citizens, this Jerusalem population occupies a legally distinct category and should not automatically be included under citizenship-based labels.[1]

Government background material groups different communities under the collective description "Arab citizens of Israel" while describing the Druze as a separate cultural, social, and religious community and the Circassians as a distinct ethnic community.[5] This internal diversity means that no single identity label should be assumed to describe every member of the broader population.

The term "Palestinian" itself underwent a significant shift in meaning around 1948. An Encyclopedia.com entry explains that the term once referred to anyone living in Mandatory Palestine, Arab or Jew, and that after Israel's establishment it narrowed to denote Arabs and their descendants who had lived there under the British Mandate.[10] Many Muslim and Christian inhabitants incorporated into Israel continued to identify as Palestinians while holding Israeli citizenship, though they came to be called "Israeli Arabs" or "1948 Arabs" in much external usage.[10]

A 2017 INSS memorandum offers a historical account of state policy regarding terminology. It describes early Israeli governments as seeking to prevent the Arab minority from becoming a recognized Palestinian national minority, and characterizes later state efforts as attempting to weaken Palestinian identity and transform "Palestinians citizens of Israel" into "Israeli Arabs."[11] This account represents the publication's historical interpretation of policy, not a neutral official record.

A Jewish Virtual Library essay in the Israel Studies Anthology traces how self-identification shifted over time. A mid-1990s finding documented growing integration into Israeli society alongside growing distance from Palestinian identity and politics. Later, particularly among younger Israeli Arabs, a growing tendency emerged to define themselves as Palestinians — a shift the essay links to demands for collective equality and recognition, as well as solidarity with Palestinians in the West Bank — known by its original, indigenous Jewish name of Judea and Samaria — and Gaza.[12]

Between December 2006 and May 2007, Arab intellectuals and public figures publishing "future vision" documents explicitly chose to call themselves "Palestinian Citizens of Israel." These documents advanced claims about both individual equality and collective rights, and the choice of label was itself a political statement.[12]

Across official, academic, journalistic, and personal contexts, a wide array of labels appears for this population. "Israeli Arabs" and "Arab Israelis" are common in Israeli usage and international reporting.[9][13] The U.S. State Department's 2015 human-rights report uses "Arab citizens" and notes that many in this group self-identify as Palestinian.[6]

"Palestinian citizens of Israel" and related formulations appear frequently in academic and policy writing. My Jewish Learning uses "Palestinian Arab citizens of Israel" while quoting Ahmad Tibi's distinction between Palestinian nationality and Israeli citizenship.[7] An INSS book explains its own editorial approach: throughout the text, the population is referred to interchangeably as "Palestinian Arab society," "the Palestinian Arab minority," and "the Palestinian Arab community in Israel," while shorter forms — "Arab society," "the Arab minority," and "the Arab community" — are also used for simplicity and convenience.[14]

Other formulations include "Israeli Palestinians," "Palestinian Arabs in Israel," "Arab-Israelis," and "Palestinians of '48" or "Arabs of '48."[2][7] Israel's 1948 Declaration of Independence itself referred to the state's Arab residents as "Arab inhabitants."[12]

In earlier decades, Israeli officials and media commonly used the Hebrew expression b'nei ha-mi'utim — "the minorities" — to describe the population. A Mosaic columnist argues that this usage treated the words "Arab" or "Palestinian" as illegitimate in that context, an interpretation the columnist frames as politically meaningful.[2] The same commentator notes that in Arab-world discourse, members of this population have often been called "the Arabs of '48" or "the Palestinians of '48," and argues that each of these usages can obscure political realities from a different direction.[2]

Individual members of the community describe their identities in varied and sometimes layered ways. Mansour Abbas, speaking in an interview, described himself as "an Arab, a Palestinian, a Muslim, and a citizen of the Israeli state," adding that "these identities, the national and religious, can live together."[4] Knesset member Ahmad Tibi offered a different formulation: "We are Palestinians by nationality, and we are Israeli citizens."[7] An Acre resident listed "Arab Israelis," "Palestinians," "Israeli Palestinians," "Palestinian Israelis," and "Arabs of '48" before adding, simply, "whatever we call it" — illustrating the range of terms that members of the community may hold simultaneously or interchangeably.[15]

A Ben-Gurion University research abstract describes the identity of Palestinians in Israel as having two main components: a Palestinian component and an Israeli-citizenship component, with reference groups in both the Palestinian people and Arab world on one side, and Israel's Jewish majority on the other. The abstract notes that the group occupies a position of marginalization both within Israeli society and within the Palestinian national movement.[3]

Survey data on preferred labels and identity reflect the complexity and do not point to a single, stable preference. A 2017 Jerusalem Post survey of 876 Israeli citizens and 125 East Jerusalem permanent residents asked which term best described them: 28 percent chose "Israeli Arab," 13 percent "Arab citizen of Israel," 15 percent "Palestinian," 11 percent "Israeli," 4 percent "Palestinian in Israel," 3 percent "Palestinian citizen in Israel," 2 percent "Israeli Palestinian," and 8 percent "Muslim."[16] A 2012 TheMarker opinion article cited sociologist Sami Smooha's survey findings that approximately 20 percent identified as "Palestinians" without an Israeli component, 40 percent as "Palestinian-Israelis," and 40 percent as "Israeli Arabs" without a Palestinian component — though field dates and methodology were not provided.[17]

A December 2024 telephone survey of 500 adult Arab citizens of Israel asked a different question: which identity component was dominant in their personal identity. The reported distribution was Israeli citizenship (33.9%), religious affiliation (29.2%), Arab identity (26.9%), and Palestinian identity (9%), with a stated margin of error of ±4.38 percentage points.[18] Because this survey asked about dominant identity components rather than preferred labels, its results are not directly comparable to those from the 2017 survey.[18]

My Jewish Learning reports that polling suggests Arab citizens have been increasingly identifying as Palestinian, but notes that a 2020 Jewish People Policy Institute poll appeared to show the opposite trend, and that Sammy Smooha's 2017 survey found 16 percent preferred "Israeli-Arabs" while describing "Palestinian in Israel" as the largest and fastest-growing identity category.[1] These differing results across surveys reflect differences in question wording, sample composition, and timing rather than a single trajectory.

"Israeli Arabs" and "Arab Israelis" function as legally and civically defined terms that some members of the community use, while others reject them because they feel the labels overlook Palestinian identity.[7][13]

Labels that include "Palestinian" convey national identity but may themselves require clarification. Israeli government background material groups Muslim Arabs, Bedouin Arabs, Christian Arabs, Druze, and Circassians under a broad institutional description while also presenting them as communities with distinct characteristics.[5] An umbrella label should therefore not be presumed to express every individual's or community's chosen identity.

Labels emphasizing citizenship — "Arab citizens of Israel" and "Palestinian citizens of Israel" — are precise about legal status but do not automatically include Arab residents of East Jerusalem, who hold residency rights rather than citizenship. My Jewish Learning explicitly distinguishes Arab residents from Israeli citizens on this basis, noting that several hundred thousand Arab residents of East Jerusalem are not full citizens.[1]

The INSS historical-review study specifies that its own analysis does not cover the Bedouin in the Negev or the Arab population in East Jerusalem, demonstrating that the population designated by a given label can vary depending on the analytical or institutional context.[11] Israeli government background material uses "Arab citizens of Israel" as a collective description while separately categorizing Muslim Arabs, Bedouin Arabs, Christian Arabs, Druze, and Circassians — illustrating that an umbrella label may group communities with distinct identities and preferences.[5]

The debate over terminology is not confined to descriptive accuracy; it also involves competing claims about political recognition and national belonging. A 2017 INSS memorandum describes the label "Israeli Arabs" as reflecting state efforts to detach this population from Palestinian national identity, framing the terminology as part of a broader political project.[11] A 2021 Ynet report quotes Muhammad Kana'na asserting: "We are Palestinians, not Arab Israelis. The term 'Arab Israelis' was created by Israel and its clients."[13] These characterizations represent particular political positions rather than neutral historical consensus.

David Koren argues in a Jewish News Syndicate opinion piece that "Arab citizens of Israel" can obscure the self-identification of citizens who see themselves as part of the Palestinian national collective, while noting that "Arabs of 1948" circulates in Arab-world discourse as a way to distinguish this community from Palestinians in Judea and Samaria, Gaza, East Jerusalem, and the diaspora.[19]

A 2023 Jerusalem Post opinion article contends that neither "Arab citizens of Israel" nor "Israeli Arabs" adequately captures the layered identities at stake and proposes the umbrella term "Arab-Palestinian-Israelis," while acknowledging that no single unifying identity exists among Arab citizens.[20] A 2003 Ynet opinion article argued the opposite emphasis: that "Arab citizens of Israel" is preferable precisely because it foregrounds citizenship rather than a possessive connection to the state implied by "Israeli Arabs."[21]

The INSS book on Palestinian Arab society frames the population as developing as a distinct civic community, with identities grounded in both Israeli citizenship and Palestinian national affiliation, as well as social and family ties with Palestinians in the West Bank and Gaza Strip.[14] A Ben-Gurion University research abstract similarly describes this dual orientation while noting that the community experiences marginalization from both reference groups.[3] These academic framings treat the layered character of the identity as a structural feature rather than a problem to be resolved by the choice of a single label.