ABSTRACT
Political dynamics since the massive outbreak of violence in September 2000 show that although Israeli Palestinian elites may be suggesting changes in the structure and identity of the state to allow Arab cultural autonomy, the majority of Israel’s Arab citizens are still working within the system. In late September and early October 2000, Israel’s Arab citizens participated in acts of violence on an unprecedented scale, presumably because of Ariel Sharon’s much-publicized visit to the Temple Mount. Israel’s Arab citizens are well aware of their economic dependence on the Jewish majority, both in the marketplace and by virtue of government economic transfers that probably exceed the tax receipts generated within the Arab sector itself. The statements were fraught with tension; the aspiration to make “the state of Israel democratic and a state for all its citizens” is a liberal sentiment, which treats individuals as citizens irrespective of their ethnicity.
