History of Israeli Nationality - Minorities

Minorities

Helped by the pro-Zionism of the 1920s, the Jewish population in Palestine slowly continued to grow. At the time the local Arab population had not yet developed a national identity.The Arabs were loyal to their Wattan, locality, and Quo’um, the Islamic/Arab area in general. The modern concept of nationalism was restrained by the traditionalism of fundamentalism. However, this slowly began to change with the ascent of new anti-Jewish Arab leaders such as Hajj Amin Al-Husseini (who spend World War II in Berlin as a guest of Adolph Hitler). Al-Husseini's incitement eventually culminated in a series of pogroms in 1929. Especially brutal was the massacre of Jews in Hevron where almost 100 yeshiva students were killed at the Yeshiva of Hevron. These were religious Jews, not Zionists, and refused to defend themselves. The British did nothing to stop the bloodshed, blaming the Jews in the Passfield White Paper for "economically suppressing the Arabs."

‘Minorities’ is a term used to denote non-Jewish citizens of the State of Israel based on distinct religion, sect, or form of settlement and includes, but is not limited to; Muslims, Christians, Druze, Circassians, and Bedouins. In 1948, with the creation of the State, came the establishment of a Ministry of Minorities, which operated within the Ministry of the Interior.

When Israel claimed independence in 1948, 160,000 Arabs who remained in the territory (750,000 fled or were expelled in a mass exodus) became Israeli residents and a new minority where they had once been the majority. They were deemed traitors by those who had left and were placed in an awkward situation in the new State which claimed to be Jewish, but advocated equality for all its citizens. The Declaration of Independence explicitly promised "the most complete social and political equality to all inhabitants without distinction of religion, race or sex." By 1949, Arabs could vote and stand for election however; their civil liberties were severely restricted. For example, the Arab minority had very little freedom of movement within the territory. This was enforced by a military administration which remained in place until 1966.

Israeli citizenship was only granted to those Arabs who had resided in the territory, without interruption, between 1948 and 1952, when a law on nationality was passed. Thousands of Palestinian refugees who fled Israel temporarily during the Independence War (1947–1949) could claim Israeli citizenship. They were only granted citizenship in 1980. However, in their absence the 1950 law of Acquisition of Absentees’ Property was enacted leading to a massive transfer of territory to the Israeli State.

Formally, Jews and Palestinian Arabs both enjoy equal citizenship rights. However, Arabs are not recruited to the military, which limits their ability to exercise their citizenship practice, rendering them less full members of the state. Soldiers are often entitled to certain benefits such as supplementary children allowances, tax credits, assistance in mortgage payments, etc. Since the Arab minority is not called to serve in the military, they are not entitled to these benefits, creating a form of disguised discrimination. However, Arab citizens may volunteer for service in the IDF on the same grounds as non-Arab Israelis.