A Report to Doctors Without Borders/Letter to the Editor - Essay Example

He further argues that this would finally create Jewish and Muslim states and aid the peace process. The Palestinian citizens of Israel are also called the Arab citizens of Israel. A majority of them have their cultural and ethnic identity as Palestinian with their traditional vernacular being the Palestinian dialect of Arabic. Their religious affiliation is Muslim, Sunni branch of Islam and most of them are bilingual. Their second language is Modern Hebrew. There are also Arab Christians from various denominations who are a minority as well as Druze.

Many of them have family ties to Palestinians in the West Bank, Gaza Strip and also to Palestinian refugees in Jordan, Syria and Lebanon. They identify themselves as Israeli by citizenship and Palestinian or Arab by nationality (Rabinowitz & Abu Baker, 6). The 1948 Arab-Israeli war is referred to as Nakba, meaning catastrophe by most Arab citizens (Rabinowitz & Abu Baker, 35). This is due to a reflection of differences in the perception of the purpose of the war and its outcomes. There were an estimated 950,000 Arabs living in the territory that became Israel before the war.

During the war, 80% of them fled or were expelled. 700,000 Palestinian refugees fled their homes with the hope of returning after a victory. These people and their descendants form a composition of Arab citizens of Israel. . The Palestinian citizens of Israel exist because martial law was completely lifted in 1966, granting them equal rights with Jewish citizens under the law. In response to Terrence Hadley’s accusation of them being terrorists and fundamentalists, there has been a struggle with Jewish leaders.

Jewish leaders struggled to advance their settler project which was historic while at the same time being forced to share their political power with the people they sort to uproot (White, 23). Providing citizenship for them was seen as a tool of collective exclusion and a way of reducing Palestinian population. However, this has not helped in resolving the government’s fundamental dilemma. The dilemma is trying to bind Arab voters to the state while at the same time denying them access to resources.

Arab citizens made contact with Palestinians in the Gaza Strip and West Bank for the first time in 1967. This was after the military rule was lifted and it led to an increase in political activism among the Arabs (Dowty, 18). This therefore shows that they are only trying to get their position politically and socially while at the same time maintain their values and systems. In response to them having forfeited their right to Israeli citizenship for supporting the Palestinian cause, they have been forced to support the cause due to the treatment they are getting.

They are faced with economic stagnation, unemployment and poverty. Palestinian towns have been left out of government subsidies and development incentives making them a minority. They have also been left out of welfare benefits and business activities. They do not fully enjoy banking services and good housing facilities making them