How are Palestinians with Israeli citizenship unequal compared to Jewish Israeli citizens 1 ?

  • The small percentage of Palestinians who were able to remain in what became Israel in 1948 are today citizens of the state, but are discriminated against by over 60 laws and widespread Israeli racism, making them second-class citizens in their own homeland.
  • Israel placed almost all Palestinian citizens under harsh military rule (very similar to what Palestinians experience in the West Bank today) until 1966.
  • Many Palestinian citizens of Israel were expelled from their family homes in 1948. Like Palestinian refugees outside Israel, they have not been allowed to return home and are still internally displaced persons today.
  • Until today, Israel has even refused to officially recognize some Palestinian villages, which denies these Palestinian citizens of Israel access to services like water and electricity.
  • Israeli police have massacred Palestinian citizens of Israel for protesting for their rights or while returning from work after a curfew was imposed on them unknowingly. In 2021, mobs of Israeli Jews attacked Palestinian citizens in Israel during Israel’s attack on the Gaza Strip.
BY THE NUMBERS:
  • Palestinians with Israeli citizenship are more than 20% of the state’s population.
  • Israel has passed more than 60 laws that discriminate against Palestinian citizens of Israel based on their national origin and religion.
  • 93% of land in Israel is controlled by the government, and about 80% of this public land is off-use for Palestinian citizens. Israeli courts also have allowed so-called “admissions committees” in Jewish-only communities to prevent Palestinians from living in them.
  • Israel is threatening to destroy the 60,000-70,000 homes of Palestinians with Israeli citizenship who are typically not granted permits by Israel to expand or build their houses.

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