ABSTRACT
This chapter argues that the emerging new political elite in Arab-Palestinian society in Israel is introducing new challenging political thought that has a major impact on the relationship between the state and the indigenous Palestinian minority. Arab-Palestinian society in Israel is characterized by a high degree of internal divergence within its social, political, and cultural spheres, in addition to an ongoing, deep structural transformation. The new political imagination seeks the creation of a political reality that extends far beyond the goal of normalizing the existence of Arab-Palestinian society in the Israeli state. Israeli state institutions maintain that the views of the Arab-Palestinian public are different from those presented by the emerging elite. Arab academic staff members, although a few in number, have succeeded in introducing the rights of Arab citizens into the academic and political debate in Israel in various international forums.
