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Are Arab Citizens of Israel Palestinians?
(Atlantic) Yair Rosenberg - The Arab community comprises 20% of Israel's population. To some activists and journalists, they are simply "Palestinians," separate and alienated from broader Israeli society. But that's not what many tell pollsters. In 2019, a survey by progressive pollsters Dahlia Scheindlin and David Reis found that while 14% of Arabs in Israel identified as "Palestinian," 19% preferred "Palestinian-Israeli," 22% went with "Arab," and 46% chose "Arab-Israeli." In 2020, a survey by top Israeli pollster Professor Camil Fuchs offered more options. 23% picked "Israeli," 15% chose "Arab," 51% opted for "Arab-Israeli," and just 7% went with "Palestinian." Already in 2017, polls found that 60% of Arab citizens held a positive view of the Israeli state. 63% of Arabs said that Israel was a "positive" place to live, compared with 34% who said it was not. Another survey that year found that 51% of Arabs in Israel described themselves as "quite proud" or "very proud" to be Israeli, while 56% characterized the country's situation as "good" or "very good."