An in-depth survey of the Arab public in the shadow of the ongoing war between Israel and Hamas shows:
- As a result of the war, most Arab citizens (74%) report a low level of personal security, while 67.8% report a relatively healthy economic situation
- 45.3% fear harassment by Jewish citizens, but the overwhelming majority (84.1%) report that they have not been harassed
- Half of the Arab public (51.6%) feels that the war has created a sense of shared destiny between Arabs and Jews
- 56% believe that the recognition of a Palestinian state by European countries contributes to solving the Palestinian issue
- 50.3% believe that the two-state solution is the most realistic way to resolve the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, but only 24.7% believe that reconciliation between the two peoples will be achieved within a decade
- If Knesset elections were held today, the expected voter turnout in the Arab community would be 54%
- 68.7% support the entry of an Arab party into the coalition that will be formed after the next Knesset elections
- 80.4% support the reestablishment of the Joint List
- 60.6% believe that the problem of violence and crime is the most important issue for the Arab public today.
Main Findings:
As a result of the war, a large majority of the Arab public (74%) reports feeling a low level of personal security. In contrast, most (67.8%) report a relatively healthy economic situation. Additionally, half of the Arab public (51.6%) believes that the war has created a sense of shared destiny between Arabs and Jews in Israel, while the other half (48.4%) does not.
Almost half of the Arab public (45.3%) currently fears harassment from Jews, while 40% report that they do not. An overwhelming majority of respondents (84.1%) say that they themselves have not experienced harassment by Jews in recent months, but a significant proportion (15.9%) reports that they have.
A large majority of the Arab public (77.9%) believes that Arab citizens should publicly express their opinions regarding the war between Israel and Hamas, including by means of legal demonstrations.
The Arab public is divided on who should govern the Gaza Strip the day after the war: 24.4% believe it should be governed by local Gazan entities, while the rest are divided between the Palestinian Authority (19.4%), an international force (19.4%) and Hamas (14.7%).
56% of the respondents believe that recognition of a Palestinian state by European countries contributes to solving the Palestinian issue. 25.9% of them believe that it has no such impact.
Half of the Arab public (50.3%) believes that the most realistic solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict is a two-state solution based on the 1967 borders. The rest are divided between those who see no solution on the horizon (31.4%) and those who support a one-state solution—from the river to the sea—shared by Israelis and Palestinians (17.1%). Additionally, a large majority of the Arab public (69.1%) believes that an end to the conflict between Israel and the Palestinians and reconciliation between the two peoples is not on the horizon. In contrast, a quarter of the respondents (24.7%) believes that reconciliation between the two peoples will be achieved within 10 years.
What is preventing or delaying the resolution of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict? 44.1% believe that the main reason is the dominance of the Jewish Right in Israel, while 24% feel it is the position of the US administration. 15% believe that the peace and normalization agreements between Israel and several Arab countries are what is delaying the resolution of the conflict and only 12% point to the split between the Palestinian Authority in the West Bank and the Hamas regime in Gaza as the main delaying factor.
A large majority of respondents (72.4%) believes that the government coalition will break up soon after the war or even before it ends. Only 14.2% think that it will last a full term (until October 2026). Looking ahead, most of the respondents (68.7%) support the inclusion of an Arab party in the government to be formed after the next elections.
If Knesset elections were held today, the expected voter turnout in the Arab community would be 54%, similar to that observed in the 25th Knesset elections (53.2%) held in November 2022. In this scenario, Hadash-Ta'al and Ra'am are expected to exceed the electoral threshold, while Balad would be just under it. Additionally, a large majority of the Arab public (80.4%) supports the idea of recreating the Joint List from the four parties (Hadash, Ra'am, Ta'al and Balad) prior to the next Knesset elections.
The most important issue for the Arab public continues to be the problem of violence and crime (60.6%). Other issues include solving the Palestinian problem (11.3%), the regulation of planning and construction in Arab towns (10.1%), the economic situation, employment and poverty (7.7%) and education and higher education (6.9%).
Most of the respondents (66.6%) believe that neither the current government (headed by Netanyahu) nor the previous one (the Bennett-Lapid government) did enough to eliminate violence and crime in Arab society. However, a significant proportion (20.7%) believes that the previous government did more than the current one to address the problem.
There are three similarly-weighted components within Arab personal identity: Israeli citizenship (29.3%), religious affiliation (28.9%) and Arab identity (28.5%). A relatively small proportion (12.5%) reports that Palestinian identity is the dominant component of their identity.
Full Findings - here.