Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
The Church of the Annunciation in Nazareth, a town with a Muslim Arab majority. (Getty Images / Image
Bank.)
cities of Haifa and Acre, the Arab city of Nazareth (the largest Arab city, with a population of
60,000), and the large Arab town of Umm al-Fahm. Twenty percent live in the Jerusalem area.
The remaining 30 percent, including large numbers of Bedouin, live in the south; the largest
town there is Rahat.
During the 1980s, Arab villages with growing populations began building upward by adding
stories to existing buildings. The architectural styles of buildings in those villages have more in
common with those in neighboring Arabic-speaking countries than in the rest of Israel. Arabic
is used in these villages, including in the school system.
There is still a distinct gap between these villages and the generally larger Jewish towns.
In 2003, the average salary of Arab workers was 29 percent lower than the salary for Jew-
ish workers, although the level correlates to educational level and residential location, not to
ethnicity. Arab employment is concentrated in agriculture, construction, and industry. Arab
women have an extremely low rate of participation in the economy. One response to this situ-
ation is migration to bigger places, like Acre, Nazareth and its surrounding villages, and Haifa.
About 7 percent of college students — constituting roughly one-quarter of Arab high school
graduates — are Arab.
Settlements in the West Bank, the Gaza Strip, and the Golan Heights
Since 1967, Israeli Jews have established 121 settlements in the West Bank. In the 1993 agreement
with the PLO, Israel's government promised not to allow the creation of new settlements or the
