Palestinian Citizens of Israel

Over 1 million Palestinians are citizens of Israel, accounting for nearly 20% of the population. As non-Jews in a self-proclaimed Jewish state, they suffer widespread discrimination in all areas of life, despite being the indigenous population of the country. The following reports detail the second-class status of this marginalized community.

• Adalah, "History of the Palestinians in Israel"
  "Israel never sought to assimilate or integrate the Palestinian population. The Jewish majority viewed Palestinians inside Israel suspiciously and frequently with hostility -- as part of the Arab world, as a potential fifth column, and oftentimes simply as enemies of the state."
• Arab Association for Human Rights, "Factsheet: Discrimination in Israeli Law"
  "The Declaration of Independence in 1948 defined Israel as a Jewish state. The state is the state of the Jews, both those presently resident in the country as well as those resident abroad. Even if the Arabs have equal rights on all other levels, the signal is there: Israel is not their state."
• Adalah, "The Palestinian Minority in the Israeli Legal System"
  "Discretionary governmental powers results in significant de facto discrimination between Jewish and Palestinian citizens. On a per capita basis, Arab municipalities receive a fraction of the funding allocated to Jewish development towns and Jewish-only settlements in the Occupied Territories."
• Arab Association for Human Rights, "Factsheet: Land & Planning Policy in Israel"
  "Inside Israel, the government has continued to establish new settlements for Jews only. Palestinian Arab citizens are not allowed to move there, even when the settlements are on public land. Meanwhile, illegal building within Arab communities is harshly punished."
• Human Rights Watch, "Second Class: Discrimination Against Palestinian Arab Children in Israel's Schools," September 2001
  "The Israeli government operates two separate school systems, one for Jewish children and one for Palestinian Arab children. Discrimination against Palestinian Arab children colors every aspect of the two systems. The gap in quality is enormous -- on every criterion measured by Israeli authorities."
• Arab Association for Human Rights, "Factsheet: The Unrecognized Villages"
  "Over 100 Palestinian Arab villages inside Israel are not officially recognized by the Israeli government. The government prevents their 70,000 residents from repairing existing homes or building new ones, and withholds basic services such as drinking water and health clinics. The villages are not shown on any map."