Establishment of Israel

The policies and attitudes toward Palestinians deal with demographic issues that dictate the political environment in the state of Israel. The identity and borders of the Jewish state are incredibly complex to define. Some Israeli officials have extracted Israeli settlers from the Gaza Strip and constructed a barricade in the West Bank; while supporting contentious legislation that would prevent any Palestinian who married an Israeli to become a citizen of Israel. Aimed at preserving the primary population of Jews in the state, these decisions are a pillar to maintaining the national survival of Israel. Forcing Israelis to face a concrete and delicate question about their national identity has not surpassed religious and cultural differences and had resulted in a multicultural identity. The idealistic perception of a homogenous identity for the Land of Israel is not realistic since it has been challenged by the lack of resource as well as the trials and tribulations along ethnic, religious, and political lines to formulate a unified identity that was once envisioned for the Jewish nation.

On May 14, 1948, the state of Israel was resurrected as well as the vision of a peaceful nation that upheld democratic values in alignment with Jewish principles. The ensuing war forced hundreds of thousands of Palestinians to flee the area. The Palestinians who chose to stay behind became a minority group of the territory. The war had a significant impact on the relationship between Jewish and Arabs inside of Israel. Israel actively encouraged and pursued the emigration of Jews into its nation, while preventing the return of Palestinian refugees. Known as the “1948 Arabs”— Palestinian Arabs did not become Israeli citizens out of their own free...

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...This could be achieved through the adoption of a constitution, which has been intermittently stressed by Israelis in the face of a lagging government.

Ever since the establishment of Israel, the dilemma of maintaining a Jewish state while regarding the civil liberties of the non-Jewish population has been an arduous journey. Division from Palestinians will only highlight the problem of the Arab-Israeli community, forcing Israel’s Jewish and Arab populations to face their long-standing relations. The community of Arabs and the issue of their weight on demography as well as their dual Israeli identity have heightened tensions in Israel’s legal and political structures. All of these factors have produced a divided multicultural society rather than a homogeneous identity that would cross ethnic, religious and political tensions that was imagined by David Ben Gurion.