Half of Israeli Arabs Believe the War Created Shared Destiny with Jews

Photo Credit: Michael Giladi/Flash90

Israeli Jews and Arabs enjoy the Sukkot holiday kayaking in the Jordan river, October 4, 2023.

A new study by the Konrad Adenauer Program for Jewish-Arab Cooperation at Tel Aviv University’s Moshe Dayan Center reveals promising data on coexistence in Israel. According to the survey, 57.8% of respondents believe the ongoing war has fostered a sense of shared destiny between Arabs and Jews in Israel.

Researchers highlight this as a statistically significant shift in Arab Israelis’ attitudes toward the conflict. In a similar survey conducted in November 2023, 69.8% of the Arab public felt the war had damaged solidarity between the two communities. Comparatively, a survey from June 2024 showed that only 51.6% of respondents believed in a shared destiny. The current results reflect a meaningful increase, suggesting a positive trend in intergroup relations.

ADDITIONAL FINDINGS INCLUDE:

• The personal identity of Israel’s Arab citizens incorporates three dominant elements: Israeli citizenship (33.9%), religious affiliation (29.2%), and Arab identity (26.9%). A smaller portion of respondents (9%) regard their Palestinian identity as the dominant component of their identity. The researchers note: “It cannot be ignored that a significant segment of Arab Israelis define their Israeli citizenship as the most important element in their personal identity. Moreover, the current survey suggests that – possibly as a result of the continuing war, their instrumental Israeli citizenship has become more important than the Arab identity – which carries deeper meanings such as religion, nationality, culture, tradition, language, and values.”
• Opinions in the Arab populace are divided regarding the desirable post-war governance in Gaza: 20.7% believe the Palestinian Authority should take control, 20.1% prefer a multinational force, 17.9% suggest Israel, and 15.8% favor local Gazan entities. Only 6.7% think Hamas should continue governing the Gaza Strip after the war.
• Half of the respondents (53.4%) believe a normalization agreement between Israel and Saudi Arabia could signal a positive regional development. At the same time, half (49.2%) feel that resolving the Israeli-Palestinian conflict should not be a precondition for such an agreement.
• A large majority of respondents (71.8%) support the inclusion of an Arab party in the Israeli government after the next elections. Half of the Arab public (47.8%) support joining any government, not just a center-left coalition.
• A majority of the Arab public (65.8%) report a weak sense of personal security. The primary reason cited is the high incidence of violence in Arab communities (63.1%), with the ongoing war also contributing to this feeling (24.6%). At the same time, 65.1% of respondents report a relatively good economic situation, and 57.8% believe the war has fostered a sense of shared destiny between Arabs and Jews in Israel.