Bulletin of Palestine Studies

Abstract

This article examines the struggle of the Palestinian minority over its question of social identity and political equality within the borders of the settler-colonial order of the State of Israel. While the Palestinian minority was an integral part of the fabric of Palestinian society, it became an isolated minority whose physical, cultural, and political ties were severed from both Palestinian and Arab societies with the establishment of the State of Israel. Therefore, the Palestinian minority defined itself with the Palestinian/Arab cultural identity remained beyond that border on the one hand, and with the official Israeli identity on the other. Furthermore, the Palestinian minority were besieged in every respect and meaning by the Israeli military rule and its perception of a threat to its national security. In this process, while the Palestinian minority continued its search for a collective social identity, the State of Israel pursued policies of dividing, subordination, and isolation. The Palestinian minority was isolated not only from Palestinian/Arab society but also from Jewish community. Its lands were seized to provide settlements for Jewish immigrants, who also perceived their Palestinian neighbors as potential threats to their security and permanence. However, some events on regional and global scales have had decisive influences on both multi-identity definitions of the Palestinian minority and the related policies of the Israeli State. Accordingly, the Palestinian minority sought to define itself with a correct and collective identity, and call for its rights within the borders of the State of Israel. However, this multi-identity definition of the Palestinian minority was reflected in its political representations. A political spectrum emerged, ranging from the Arab secular-nationalist to Islamist and communist political discourses. This article, hence, initially explores the social collective identity formation of the Palestinian minority and then its call for political equality under the settler-colonial regime of Israeli State.