Israel’s Arabs take a more positive view of the current state of the country than its Jewish citizens, according to a poll published on the eve of the 69th anniversary of its independence.
Around two-thirds, 66 per cent, of Arabs rated the situation of the country as good or very good, compared with 44 per cent of Israeli Jews.
But Jews were far more proud of being Israeli than Arabs and more upbeat about their own personal circumstances.
Professors Ephraim Yaar and Tamar Hermann of the Israel Democracy Institute, which carried out the survey, noted that although less than half of Israeli Jews thought the country’s situation good, only 16 per cent rated it bad and a third “so-so”.
“Unlike the gloomy situation assessments that are often made by professionals and in the media,” they wrote, “the public’s assessment clearly tends to the positive than the negative, though it could not be called euphoric.”
In contrast with their evaluation of the national picture, almost three-quarters, 74 per cent, of Israeli Jews felt their personal situation was good, compared with 57 per cent of Arabs.
A narrow majority of Arabs, 51 per cent, felt proud to be Israeli – a far smaller proportion than the 86 per cent of Jews.
While 73 per cent of Israeli Jews were optimistic about the future of the country, the figure for Arabs was 61 per cent.
