Israel and the Palestinian Territories/Human Geography
The land of former Mandatory Palestine is the homeland of two major peoples, the Jewish people and the Palestinian Arab people, as well as the home to minorities like the Druze, Galilean Bedouins, Negev Bedouins and Circassians.
Around 7039214 Arabs(include Palestinians, Druze and Bedouins) and 7276400 “Jews and others(include Jews, people with Jewish ancestry who not considered Jews by Jewish law, Circassians and some other groups)” live in Israel and the Palestinian territories(include Golan Heights) in mid-2020. Aside from West Bank and Gaza, other areas with an Arab majority include Western Galilee, “the Triangle” in Haifa District along the Green Line, parts of Northern Negev and in Arabic-speaking neighbourhoods of various Israeli cities; while Jews are a majority in rest of the populated areas and in the settlement blocs that comprise around 6% of West Bank. Around half of Israeli Jews are descendants of Mizrahi Jews emigrated, airlifted or expelled from various Arab countries, other Israeli Jews are descended from Ashkenazi Jews from Eastern Europe or from other Jewish groups.
The terms “Arab Citizens of Israel”, “Israeli Arabs” and “Palestinian Citizens of Israel” are overlapping but not synonymous, as Druze and Bedouins in general do not consider themselves Palestinians. Among the Arab-Palestinian citizens of Israel, some prefer calling themselves “Israeli Arabs” or “Israeli+(confessional group)”, others prefer to call themselves Palestinians.
Most Palestinians and Israeli Arabs are Muslims, a minority of them are Christians(include different confessions). The Druze are a unique ethno-religious group in Levant who practice a syncretic religion, and who are usually loyal to the country they reside in.
Israeli Jews are often classified by religious observance in Israeli political discourse: The largest group is secular(ẖilloni), the second largest is traditional(masoratiyyim), Orthodox(datiyyim) and Ultra-Orthodox(ẖaredim).
The dialect spoken by Arabs in the region is South Levantine Arabic, or Palestinian Arabic. South Levantine Arabic spoken in Israel has absorbed many Hebraisms due to frequent contact with Israeli Jews.
Israeli Hebrew is largely free of regionalisms due to its late revival, although Jews with origin in different parts of the world pronounce Hebrew words differently.
