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The vast majority of states in the international system, democratic and non-democratic, are multi-ethnic (Gurr 1993). A liberal-democratic multi-ethnic state serves the collective needs of all its citizens regardless of their ethnic affiliation, and citizenship—legally recognized membership in the political structure called a state—is the single criterion for belonging to the state and for granting equal opportunity to all members of the system. Whether a multi-ethnic democratic state should provide group rights above and beyond individual legal equality is an ongoing debate (Gurr & Harff 1994).

The Palestinians in Israel are those Palestinians who remained on their land during the Nakba in 1948, and later became Israeli citizens. The political discourse of Palestinians in Israel has moved during the last two decades, since the Oslo agreement, from the individual achievements level to the politics of rights on the collective level, and to the politics of identity. This discourse is considered of utmost importance in the politics of indigenous marginalized groups within colonial entities. Similarly, it represents a change in the evolution of the political discourse of Palestinians in Israel throughout the last two decades. In the following article we will analyze the main political changes that occurred among the Palestinian minority in Israel since 1948 and the main challenges that they raise for the Palestinians in facing the "Jewish state".

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