The Attitudes of the Palestinian Arab Citizens in Israel Towards Soviet Jewish Immigration1

This article offers a different perspective on Soviet Jewish emigration, and some of the concerns touched on in previous contributions by Gregg Beyer and Roberta Cohen (see 3 IJRL 30, 60 (1991), respectively). The attitude of Arabs and Jews towards Jewish immigration reflects mutual estrangement and opposing national aspirations, here addressed with special reference to the present influx. A brief historical back-ground is followed by an account of findings based on interviews with Arab leaders, and on other related data. The situation of the Arab minority is reviewed; although granted the status of Israeli citizens, Palestinians who remained after 1948 are con-sidered a non-assimilating minority, and the Jewish nationalist character of Israel places Arabs outside the national consensus. In the aftermath of the 1967 war, Arab citizens of Israel have also been seen increasingly as a 'hostile minority'. More recently, the intifada and the increase in Soviet Jewish immigration have added to their confused situation. The Arab leadership has expressed reservations about large-scale Jewish immigration, concerned in particular about group status, individual risk