A supermajority of Arab Israeli 12th-grade students support volunteering for non-security-related national service, a study by the Moshe Dayan Center's Konrad Adenauer Program for Jewish-Arab Cooperation found.
The study was presented at the Tel Aviv Conference of Tel Aviv University in collaboration with the Kadar Foundation on Tuesday.
The study surveyed male and female students, 75.8% of whom supported volunteering for national service unrelated to the military draft. Further, 46.9% of these students expressed "strong support" for the idea.
According to the data, there was no notable difference between genders in support for non-security-related national service, as 75.3% of men and 77.2% of women supported the idea.
The researchers also found that 69.1% of Israeli Arabs aged 18-34 also support the idea.
Largest majority of Arab society support joining Knesset coalition, study finds
The study also investigated support for Arab parties in the upcoming Knesset elections, as well as for their joining a potential ruling coalition.
A large majority of those surveyed, at 77.2%, support Arab parties joining the coalition. Additionally, 43.3% believe that the parties should join a coalition led by parties from any part of the political spectrum, while 33,9% support joining a center-left coalition.
If elections were held now, the expected turnout among Israeli Arabs would be approximately 53%, according to the data. The turnout for the November 2022 Knesset elections was 53.2%, the study noted.
In the event that there is no joint Arab list, the Hadash-Ta'al and Ra'am parties would be expected to pass the electoral threshold, with five and four seats respectively, while Balad would fail to meet the required vote percentage.
However, if a joint list were to form between the four parties, turnout could rise to 67%, which would be higher than in any other study researched by the Moshe Dayan Center's Konrad Adenauer Program. If this were to happen, the joint list could win 16 seats, the study found.
The study also investigated perceived relations between Arab and Jewish populations, as well as other societal issues that concern Israel's Arab population.
Almost 60% of Arabs believe that the current state of relations between Arabs and Jews is "not good," the study found.
However, slightly more, at 63.7%, indicated that they believe in a political partnership between Jews and Arabs. A far lower figure, at 39.7%, believes that there is support for such a political partnership within Israel's Jewish population.
When it comes to personal identity, the largest number of Arab citizens stated that their Arab identity is the most important to them, at one-third of those surveyed.
Other key elements included Israeli citizenship at 27.7%, religious affiliation at 24.5%, and Palestinian identity at 13.5%.
A slight majority, 53.3%, of respondents said their sense of belonging to the state is strong, compared with 44.5% who said it is weak.
However, the study noted that this varied widely by religious affiliation, with 81.7% of Druze respondents reporting a strong sense of belonging to the state, compared with 53.3% of Christians and 50.5% of Muslims surveyed.
Additionally, a slight difference was found among age groups, with those in older age groups having slightly stronger feelings towards belonging in an Israeli state.
The main issue facing the Israeli Arab public is violence and crime, 71.3% of respondents answered. Other issues included Palestinian statehood (8%), education, employment, and poverty issues (7.4%), and regulation of planning and construction in Arab towns (6.1%).
Over three-quarters of those surveyed reported that their sense of personal security is weak.
This was mainly affected by the high number of violent incidents in Arab towns, with 51.8% of those surveyed saying that this was the main factor negatively affecting their mood.
Other major factors included the outbreak of a new war in the region, with 21.8% of respondents saying this was a major concern for them.
The situation of Palestinians in the Gaza Strip was the main issue for 7.4% of respondents, the study found.
The study also found that economic distress was the main negative factor for 8.6% of respondents, but also noted that 68.3% of respondents reported that their economic situation is "good overall."
"In the shadow of a prolonged multi-front war, many in the wider Israeli public are unaware of the changes in Arab public opinion," the Konrad Adenauer Program for Jewish-Arab Cooperation's Director, Arik Rudnitzky, who led the study, said.
"The importance of the findings cannot be overstated. Arab citizens present a roadmap for the rehabilitation of Israeli society through integration and influence, not only in the political sphere but also in the social sphere," he continued.
"The broad support for an Arab party joining the coalition is not new; however, what is interesting is that this support has not diminished due to the war, and has even increased somewhat," he stated.
"However, the new finding is the principled support for integrating Arab 12th-grade graduates into non-defense-related national service. For Arab citizens, this is not just a path to deeper integration into broader Israeli society, but also an opportunity for Arab youth to gradually build their lives upon finishing high school, similar to the mainstream youth in Israeli society," he said.
"The survey also points to acute problems that require immediate government attention, chiefly addressing the problem of crime and violence, as well as improving protection in Arab towns during war and other emergency situations," Rudnitzky added.
"In the absence of such adequate protection, the anxiety level in Arab society about renewed war is increasing," he continued.
"The survey's findings are especially important this year as Israeli citizens, both Jews and Arabs, are conducting political soul-searching ahead of the Knesset elections," he concluded.