Conference Call: Citizenship, Identity and Political Partici...

How do Arab citizens of Israel experience of Israeli citizenship? Arab citizens make up nearly 21% of Israel's population, yet are significantly underrepresented in all of Israel's major economic streams and societal institutions. Though increasing efforts are being made by Jewish and Arab leaders in Israel to improve Arab socio-economic participation, barriers remain high, gaps remain large, and majority-minority relations fluctuate.

Given these realities, how do Arab citizens today view issues of equality and belonging in Israel? What are the biggest daily concerns of Arab citizens, and do they view civic and political participation as a means of addressing them? Recently, the Konrad Adenauer Program for Jewish-Arab Cooperation (KAS) published findings of a 2017 survey on measuring Arab attitudes on citizenship, identity and political participation in Israel.

Join us for a conference call briefing on these findings and Arab experience of of Israeli civic identity and belonging with KAS project manager, Arik Rudnitzky, andMohammad Darawshe, from Givat Haviva Center for Shared Society in Israel.

Event details:
March 21st - 12:00 PM ET
Call-in details provided upon RSVP

Please RSVP to [email protected]

About the Speakers

Arik Rudnitzky serves as Project Manager of Tel Aviv University's Konrad Adenauer Program for Jewish-Arab Cooperation, at the Moshe Dayan Center for Middle Eastern and African Studies. He holds MA (magna cum laude) and BA degrees in Middle Eastern History from the Faculty of Humanities and an MBA degree from the Faculty of Management, both at Tel Aviv University. Mr. Rudnitzky has been studying Israeli Arabs issues for more than a decade. His fields of expertise cover political, national and social developments in the Arab society in Israel, as well as government policies on Arabs in Israel.

Mohammad Darawshe has been the Director of the Center for Equality and Shared Society at Givat Haviva since 2014 (as well as between 2000 and 2005). He is also a Member of the Three-sector Roundtable at the Prime Minister's office and the Strategic Planning Team Authority for Economic Development of Minorities Sector. He previously was Co-Director of the Abraham Fund Initiatives (2005-13), an elected Council Member of his hometown Iksal (2008-2013) as well as Elections Campaign Manager for the Democratic Arab Party/United Arab List (1992-2000). In 2009 he served as a member of the National Committee which drafted a landmark Coexistence Education Policy. From 1986 to 1992, he was Program Director at Legacy International in Washington D.C. after having served as Parliamentary Assistant in the Knesset from 1984 to 1986. Mohammad holds Master’s Degrees in Peace & Conflict Management from Haifa University and in Public Administration from Hartford University, as well as Bachelor’s Degrees in English & Political Science from Hebrew University and in Multi-Disciplinary Political Science from Emek Yizrael College. Mohammad’s lectures and papers have been delivered at the European Parliament, NATO Defense College, the World Economic Forum, Club de Madrid, US Congress, the Herzlia Conference, and Israel's Presidential Conference. Mohammad is currently a Richard von Weizsäcker Fellow at the Robert Bosch Academy and a Shalom Hartman Institute Fellow. He is the recipient of the Peacemakers Award from the Catholic Theological Union, the Peace and Security Award from the World Association of NGOs, as well as the Leadership Fellow of the New Israel Fund. Mohammad frequently appears on Arab Satellite TV news programs analyzing current Israeli political and social trends.