According to a new survey conducted by the Konrad-Adenauer-Stiftung in Israel, a majority of Israel’s citizens of Arab descent feel a strong sense of belonging and economic security within Israel, though they report feeling unsafe in their personal security.
However, when asked about the primary source of their insecurity, most respondents do not cite state action or current conflicts. Instead, the most common source cited is violence occurring within the Arab community itself, accounting for 52% of answers. Concerns regarding war affected about a fifth of respondents (22%), while fewer than nine percent reported facing “economic difficulties”. Furthermore, the situation of Palestinians in Gaza only worried 7.4% of the Arab population in Israel.
Arab citizens constitute more than one in five residents of Israel, numbering around two million, the vast majority of whom are Palestinian. Despite the security concerns, nearly three-quarters of respondents (68.3%) described their overall economic situation as good. Regarding their connection to the state, half reported that their sense of belonging to Israel is strong (53.3%), while a high proportion (44%) noted that this feeling is weak.
While a clear majority (59.4%) believes that relations between Arabs and Jews in Israel are currently “not good” most respondents (64%) still express belief in a political Arab-Jewish partnership. However, this perceived unity appears one-sided, as only four out of ten Israeli Arabs feel that their Jewish fellow citizens support such a collaboration.
On the critical issue of Israeli-Palestinian conflict, just under half of the Arab Israelis (46.4%) believe that establishing a two-state solution along the 1967 lines constitutes the only realistic path forward. Support for a unified state stretching from the Jordan River to the Mediterranean, shared by Israelis and Palestinians, stood at only 18.7%.
Looking ahead to the planned parliamentary election on October 27, half of respondents currently plan to vote. Nevertheless, the survey notes that if the four Arab political parties were to form a joint electoral list, the arab participation rate could dramatically rise to a record 67%, potentially securing 16 seats in the Knesset. Additionally, a large majority (77.2%) expressed a strong desire for an Arab party’s inclusion in any future government coalition.
This survey was conducted by Tel Aviv University and the research institute “Stat-Net” in April and May, polling 500 adult Arab residents in Israel via telephone in their native language.
