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Today the majority of Arab Israelis, who constitute over a fifth of the Israeli population, speak Hebrew fluently, as a second language. For many years the Israeli authorities were reluctant to use Arabic, except when explicitly ordered by law (for example, in warnings on dangerous chemicals), or when addressing the Arabic-speaking population.
The Basic Law: Israel as the Nation-State of the Jewish People (an Israeli Basic Law which specifies the nature of the State of Israel as the nation-state of the Jewish People) states in No. 4 (B) that "The Arabic language has a special status in the state; Regulating the use of Arabic in state institutions or by them will be set in law.
A large part of Mandate-period Arab Palestinians remained within Israel's borders following the 1948 exodus and are the largest group of Arabic-speaking and culturally Arab citizens of Israel. The vast majority of the Arab citizens of Israel are Sunni Muslim, while 9% of them are Christian, [30] and 7.1% of them are Druze. [31]
In 2006, the official number of Arab residents in Israel was 1,413,500 people, about 20% of Israel's population. This figure includes 209,000 Arabs (14% of the Israeli Arab population) in East Jerusalem, also counted in the Palestinian statistics, although 98% of East Jerusalem Palestinians have either Israeli residency or Israeli citizenship ...
21.1% (around 2,080,000 people) are Israeli citizens classified as Arab, some identifying as Palestinian, and including Druze, Circassians, all other Muslims, Christian Arabs, Armenians (which Israel considers "Arab") [2] An additional 5.7% (roughly 554,000 people) are classified as "others".
In 2021, there were 163 localities in which all residents are Arab citizens of Israel, 69 of these are Arab local councils and 12 are Arab city councils. [3] [4] According to the Israel Democracy Institute about 49.1% of Israeli Arabs live in Arab local councils, 30.9% live in Arab city councils and 8.3% live in officially Mixed cities. [3]
As the Israel-Hamas war goes on, a group of Arab and Jewish Israelis have formed an unofficial civil guard in an attempt to prevent unrest in the city of Jaffa.
In 1948, many Druze volunteered for the Israeli army and no Druze villages were destroyed or permanently abandoned. [115] Since the establishment of the state of Israel, the Druze have demonstrated solidarity with Israel and distanced themselves from Arab and Islamic radicalism. [116] Israeli Druze citizens serve in the Israel Defense Forces. [117]