Israelis vs Palestinians--A Question of Identity

According to a survey last month by Near East Consulting, less than 25% of Palestinians actually see themselves as Palestinians:

About how the respondents identify themselves, the majority, 57%, identified themselves as Muslims, 21% identified themselves as Palestinians first, 19% as human beings first and 5% as Arabs first. [Hat tip: Challah Hu Akbar]

This came to mind because of another poll I saw--this one about immigrants to Israel, where over 80% of immigrants to Israel see themselves as Israeli:

Poll of a representative sample of 502 immigrants age 16-25 and 502 Israeli born age 16-25 carried out by Professor Camil Fuchs of Tel Aviv University for the Midgam Project for presentation at the Fourth Annual Conference on Immigration ad Absorption being held today in Ashdod. Published in Yisrael Hayom 14 June 2011.

Of immigrants:
76% Speak Hebrew with their classmates
60% Prefer to speak in their mother tongue with their parents
35% Want to serve in combat units
25% Have doubts about serving in the IDF
25% Have friends who are not serving in the IDF
85% Feel Israeli [of those serving in IDF 90% feel Israeli]

Of Born in Israel
83% Have immigrant friends
17% Israel should stop absorbing immigrants
10% Immigrants are a burden to the State

Of course, this is not an apples-to-apples comparison, since in the second poll we are dealing with new immigrants and not people who have lived in Israel for a while.

Still, this is a reflection of the difference between Israel, which sees itself as the defender of Jews in the world and relocated all Jews expelled from Arab countries, who came to Israel--as opposed to Arabs from 1948, many of whom are still in camps.

Technorati Tag: Israel.