ABSTRACT
The sociological and political developments within the Arab-Palestinian community in Israel and the ongoing estrangement policies of the state vis-a`-vis this community have led to growing tensions and increased confrontation between the two sides. The leadership of the ArabPalestinian community and the leadership of the state, especially the right-wing government that won power in early 2009, understand that state-minority relations can be viewed in internal Israeli terms but also as a central component of the broader Israeli-Palestinian conflict. Neither leadership has decided clearly which understanding is preferable. As a result, one can speak of a spectrum of relationships between the state and the Arab-Palestinian community within it that keep shifting, mostly in the direction of confrontation rather than conciliation. This shift brings to the fore the need for new models of analysis that go beyond a vertical understanding of Israeli-Palestinian relations. Horizontal conceptions, where the entire Israeli control system is viewed as one entity in which the normalization of Jewish life leads to the fragmentation and ghettoization of Palestinian life, are more accurate to an understanding of Israeli policies and Palestinian reactions in the last decade.
