Arabs in Israel
Arabs in Israel Israel, an Apartheid state – IS IT SO ?!? The text was written and the images were selected by Aron Albahari Introduction As of early 2013, the total population of Israel has been about eight million people. About six million among them are Jews (75 percent), around 1,300,000 Muslim Arabs, 150,000 Christian Arabs, 140,000 Druze, 60,000 Bedouins, whereas 350,000 people belong to the ‘others’ category (non-Arab Christians, Circassians, Armenians, etc.). Both formally and legally, as Israeli citizens, they have equal rights and obligations, and this, naturally, also applies to Arabs. The only obligation that does not apply to Arabs is military service, except if they wish to opt for it. Although they are Muslims, Druze, Bedouins and Circassians do serve the military service. Since May 14, 1948, and the formation (reinstatement) of Israel as a state, despite political and other connotations regarding the relationship between the Arabs and Israeli Jews typical of this period, the Arab population in Israel has grown in number by ten times, or by more than 1000 percent: from 190,000 to about two million. One of the major reasons for this has been the overall standard and quality of life within the Israeli society and state, regardless of personal affinities, political or other views and attitudes and an individual’s experience of the life in the predominantly Jewish society. Compared to other Arabs living in 22 Arab Muslim countries, the Israeli Arabs, as the largest non-Jewish population in Israel, have on average the longest life expectancy (both men and women), the lowest mortality rate among the newborns, the lowest illiteracy rate and the highest rate of university-educated people (both among men and women).
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