On November 14th, Sammy Smooha—Professor Emeritus of Sociology at the University of Haifa—discussed Israel's Palestinian-Arab citizens, how the state discriminates against them, and why they "play by the rules."

Organized by the UCLA Y&S Nazarian Center for Israel Studies. Co-sponsored by the UCLA Center for Middle East Development.

About the Talk

Palestinian-Arab citizens constitute close to 20% of Israel’s population. They are an unassimilable minority, considered potentially disloyal to the state for being part of the inimical Palestinian people, and ideologically dissident for rejecting the state’s basic ideology of Zionism. They are also discriminated against in state policies and many areas of life. Yet, since 1948 they have been compliant and have not broken the rules. The negative and positive reasons why Arab citizens play by the rules is discussed in this talk.

About the Speaker

Professor Sammy Smooha received his doctoral degree in sociology from UCLA. He is Professor Emeritus of Sociology at the University of Haifa, a member of The Israel Academy of Sciences and Humanities, and an Israel Prize laureate in Sociology. He served as a visiting professor and a senior research fellow at many academic institutes in the West. Professor Smooha studies Israeli society in comparative perspective, with a focus on ethnic relations and democracy and has published widely on the internal divisions and conflicts in Israel.

DISCLAIMER: The views or opinions of our guest speakers and the content of their presentations do not necessarily reflect the views of the UCLA Younes and Soraya Nazarian Center for Israel Studies. Hosting speakers does not constitute an endorsement of the speaker's views or opinions.

Published: Thursday, November 14, 2024