ABSTRACT
Arabs in Israel have firm grounds for feeling deprived and alienated. Being part of a democratic society with an increasingly growing economy, they have high aspirations for equality and social mobility. They are restrained by five prime factors: the Israeli-Arab conflict, Israel as a Jewish-Zionist state, cultural hegemony, ethnic stratification, and Jewish ethnocentrism. Land expropriation is probably the most significant measure of deprivation. Seventy-nine percent of the Arabs feel that they do not enjoy equal job opportunities even when unrelated to national security. Dissatisfaction with the state and its institutions is generalized to alienation from the state. The magnitude of Arab alienation, which is also high among the leaders, stands out against the firm Jewish attachment to the state: 82% of the Jews, compared to only 30% of the Arabs, do riot feel cultural alienation. A large majority, 76% of the Arabs would not feel more at home in Israel than in an Arab country.
