User:Oneworld25/sandbox
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Arab citizens of Israel[2] is a phrase used to describe Arabs or Arabic-speaking people who are not Jewish, but are citizens of the State of Israel.[3][4]
Total population | |
---|---|
1,144,000 plus 270,000 in East Jerusalem and the Golan Heights (2006) 19.7% of Israeli population[1] | |
Regions with significant populations | |
Israel | |
Languages | |
Arabic and Hebrew | |
Religion | |
Islam 83% (mostly Sunni), Christianity 8.5% and Druzism 8.3%[1] |
The majority identify themselves as Palestinian by nationality and Israeli by citizenship.[5] Many Arab citizens hold many ties, including family ties, to Palestinians in the West Bank, Gaza Strip and Jordan. There has been relatively greater emphasis on their identity as Israelis among the Bedouin[6] and Druze, with the latter performing compulsory military service, unlike their Christian and Muslim counterparts.[7][8]
Special cases are Arabs living in East Jerusalem and the Golan Heights, occupied and administered by Israel since the Six Days War of 1967. The residents of East Jerusalem became permanent residents of Israel shortly after the war. Only a few of them accepted Israeli citizenship, and most of them keep close ties with the West Bank,[9] though they are allowed to vote for municipal services. The mostly Druze residents of the Golan Heights are considered permanent residents under the Golan Heights Law of 1981. Few of them have accepted full Israeli citizenship, and the vast majority consider themselves to be citizens of Syria.[10]