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Number of Arabs in Israel up 1,000% since 1948

September 13, 2018 at 10:22 am

A Palestinian boy holds a Palestinian flag, 29 December 2017 [Ali Jadallah/Anadolu Agency

Data revealed last week by the Israeli Central Bureau of Statistics (CBS) showed that the number of Arab residents in Israel rose by 1,000 per cent since the Nakba in 1948, Arab48 reported yesterday.

In 1948 armed Zionist militias attacked Palestinian villages and cities, killed and wounded thousands of Palestinians, as well as expelled more than 800,000 others from their homes to make way for the creation of the state of Israel.

About 156,000 Palestinians remained in their homes and were subsequently granted Israeli citizenship, they are known as Arab citizens in Israel.

Today, the number of Israelis, including Arabs, is 8,891,800. According to the Israeli CBS, the number includes 1,860,300 Arabs; 400,000 Palestinians in Jerusalem and more than 20,000 Syrian Arabs in the occupied Golan Heights.

Read: Israel launches military exercises in Golan Heights

If Palestinians in Jerusalem, who only have temporary citizenship, are excluded, Arabs in Israel would make up 17 per cent of the Israeli population.

The data issued by the CBS also showed that the monthly income of the Jewish family in Israel is 15,000 shekels ($4,188), compared to only 10,000 ($2,792) for Arab families.

Arab population grow in Israel is based on birth rates while Jewish population growths are contributed to immigration.