Israel has sought to impede the development…

Israel has sought to impede the development of a cohesive national consciousness among the Palestinians by dealing with various minority groups, such as Druze, Circassians, and Bedouin; by hindering the work of the Muslim religious organizations; and by focusing on education as a means of creating a new Israeli-Arab identity.

By the late 1960s, with the decline in agriculture and the breakdown in social customs related to such events as bride selection and marriage, the old patriarchal clan system has all but collapsed.

Israeli Arabs have been isolated from other Arabs for almost twenty years since the establishment of Israel.