Just over half of Arab Israelis (51.6%) feel that the prolonged war against Hamas in Gaza has given rise to a sense of “shared destiny” between Arab and Jewish citizens of Israel, according to a recent survey by the Moshe Dayan Center at Tel Aviv University.
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
The poll, which was presented at TAU’s conference “The Future of Israel” on Wednesday, found that a slight majority of Arabs across religious denominations (Druze, Christians and Muslims) identify with that statement.

The poll was based on a representative sample of 502 Arab citizens of Israel above the age of 18, and was initiated by the Konrad Adenauer Program for Jewish-Arab Cooperation, supported by the German Konrad-Adenauer-Stiftung. The survey analyzed expectations for the future of the Gaza Strip and perceptions of the ongoing conflict’s impact on the Arab minority inside the Jewish state.

Asked about who should run Gaza the day after the war, most respondents (58.5%) said that the administration should be in the hands of Palestinians. Of those, 24.4% said they would prefer local bodies from Gaza to manage the Strip, followed by 19.4% who said it should be governed by the Palestinian Authority, and 14.7% said who by Hamas.

Conversely, 34.4% of respondents said that an external non-Palestinian body should govern the coastal enclave. Of those, 19.4% opted for an international force, 8.4% chose Israel and 6.5% favored a coalition of Arab states.

As for the conflict’ impact on the personal lives of Arab Israelis, 67.8% of respondents reported they now find themselves in a relatively good economic situation, in stark contrast to the early days of the war. In November, 64.9% said their finances had been negatively affected by the war.

However, amid a persistent deadly crime wave in the community, almost three quarters of those polled (74%) reported a low sense of safety, while 60.6% indicated that violence and crime were the most pressing issue affecting Arab Israeli communities.

The Abraham Initiatives, a coexistence watchdog that monitors violent crime in the Arab community, says 98 Arabs have been killed so far in 2024 in incidents of violent crime. More Arabs were murdered in 2023 (244) than in any previous year, according to a year-end report published by the Abraham Initiatives. The figure was over twice as many as in 2022, indicating a significant upward trend amid a proliferation of illegal weapons and organized crime.