The Jewish-Arab Rift in Israel

This reader is part of a multi-year IDI project headed by Professor Ruth Gavison. The purposes of this project are twofold: documentation of the social rifts threatening Israeli society, and identification of appropriate coping mechanisms. In contrast to the inner-Jewish rifts, the Jewish-Arab rift has not received the appropriate degree of attention, befitting its depth and complexity. In an IDI position paper published recently, the central disputes dividing Jewish and Arab citizens in the State of Israel were presented. This reader complements the position paper by presenting, in-depth, the different opinions regarding the disputes underlying the rift.

The reader includes articles published in recent years by leading researchers specializing in the field of the Jewish-Arab rift. Some of the articles focus on specific topics, such as: education, allocation of resources and factionalism, placing the issue at hand within the greater picture. Others specify theoretical models of governance, analyzing them in light of contemporary Israeli reality. The authors originate from a wide variety of disciplines, addressing the rift from different perspectives and moral stands. The variety of topics and opinions expressed in these articles attest to the complexity of the Jewish-Arab rift, the great effort required for coping with it, and the pressing need to do so.