Israeli Arabs

Is Israel a Liberal Democracy in the European sense?Of course not! How a country is ruled is in large part determined by where it is, who its neighbors are and what type of ideal its striving for in regard to the political history of its citizens and the traditions of its citizens. You must also include the influence of leading countries and their forms of government.Do the Israeli Arabs feel they are living in a democracy? Of course not. First of all they have no experience to live in an Arab democracy. Lebanon with its continuing bloodshed is the best example of minrities maintaining rights in an Arab democracy. Second, the Arabs are continually reminded that they live in a Jewish State. A state where they are a minority. This must be very annoying despite the fact that they have more rights as an Arab in Israel than any Arab state. A great amount of Arab tradition deals with honor as the Arab people are only emerging now into a secular status. Of course this is greatly hampered by the panicky return to fundamentalism in recent decades. And this honor sticks in the Israeli Arab craw.