Ethnicity and ethnic identity among Bedouin adolescents in Israel

While the focus on ethnic identity in the Middle East conflict has tended to be on Israeli Jews and Palestinian Arabs, there has been a paucity of research on the effects of this social construct on the marginal groups that are directly or indirectly affected by this political dispute. Methods: A sample of high-school students from five Bedouin schools in the south of Israel (n = 351). Results: Sample members (46.9%) ranked religion as the most important factor in forming their identity. Although they were Israeli citizens, 73% of the participants stated that the term "Israeli" was not an appropriate definition of their identity, and 44.9% stated that the term "Palestinian" was. Moreover, when given a list of six ways of characterizing themselves (i.e., Arab, Israeli Arab, Israeli, Palestinian Arab, Israeli Palestinian, Palestinian), "Palestinian Arab" received the highest endorsement (33.5%), followed respectively by "Israeli Arab" (29.7%), "Arab" (18.7%), Israeli Palestinian (11.7%), and Palestinian (3.5%); only 2.9% characterized themselves as Israelis. Conclusions: This indicates that their Arab/Palestinian ethnic identity is predominant and that an acceptance of their Israeli identity, while secondary, also is widespread. More than two-thirds (68.6%) of the respondents were in favor of establishing a Palestinian state alongside Israel. The implications of these and other findings are discussed.