Israeli Arabs

The Arab citizens of Israel form the country's largest ethnic minority. The base of these communities are the Arab, non-Jewish former Palestinian citizens who continued to inhabit the territory that was acknowledged as Israeli under the 1949 Armistice Agreements ending the 1948 Palestine War. Notions of identity among Israel's Arab citizens are complex, encompassing civic, religious, and ethnic components. Most sources report that the majority of Arabs in Israel prefer to be identified as Palestinian citizens of Israel.