Conclusion

Abstract

The lives of Israel's Arab citizens—a national minority in a Jewish state—have involved the dilemma of how to relate to the state of Israel and its institutions, a dilemma that still faces each one of them. On the political level, two camps faced off within the Palestinian community in Israel, representing the two sides of the dilemma. One camp was led by traditional leaders supported by the establishment. On the opposite side was the nationalists, led during most of this period by the Communist Party. The two camps differed on nearly every issue: how to treat infiltrators (refugees who tried to return to their homes), how to relate to the military government, how to react to the imposition of military conscription on the Druze. The control of speech by the security agencies was Israel's primary tool for shaping the political consciousness of Israel's Arabs. The political activity of Palestinians in Israel, even when legitimate, is still under surveillance, and the level of involvement of the security services in Arab local and national politics is still significant.