Attitudes of Indigenous Minority Leaders toward Political Events in Their Trans-State National Group: Between Identity, Conflict and Values

Abstract

How do leaders of indigenous minorities perceive political events among their trans-state national group? What motivates their attitudes toward these events? This article, drawing on a survey and elite interviews, examines the attitudes of Palestinian leaders in Israel, as a case study of an indigenous minority, toward the events (the Arab Spring) in their trans-state national group. The findings suggest that attitudes of Palestinian leaders in Israel toward the Arab Spring are determined by three main factors: their national or religious collective identity rather than their civic identity (national level), their values (international level), and the backdrop of the Arab-Israeli conflict (local level). The implications are as follows: an absence of change in Palestinians’ traditional alienation toward Israel; membership in the Arab world has somewhat replaced the framework of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict as a basis for positions toward regional issues; Palestinian leaders in Israel are divided regarding their values, fears and hopes for change; and that the interaction between the Israeli and international sphere determines their attitudes as an indigenous people. The intermixing of these elements shows the flexible (sometimes secondary) role of collective identity and the rise in democratic values rather than traditional issues.