ABSTRACT
W. G. Sumner considers ethnocentrism as a universal syndrome of attitudes and behavior. Turning to ethnocentrism in Israel, it draws its most virulent expressions from the division between Israeli Arabs and Jews. Israeli Arabs are a restive minority, on the rise demographically, as well as in the socioeconomic and political spheres. For a number of reasons, a significant degree of ethnocentrism should be expected in the relations between the Arab minority and Jewish majority. First, the Israeli-Arab conflict places Arabs in the position of a distrustful, hostile minority. Second, the cultural differences in language, nationality, religion, and lifestyle between Arabs and Jews make for a sense of estrangement and disdain. At the core of the ethnocentrism of the dominant group is its reluctance to treat the minority as an equal. Differential treatment can be expressed in denial of civil rights and in the imposition of restrictions.
