Since this most recent war between Israel and Palestine, it’s become glaringly evident that many people do not understand the difference between race, ethnicity, nationality, and religion. I constantly see Arab (an ethnicity) used interchangeably with Palestinian (a nationality) and Muslim (a religion). Likewise Jewish (an ethnicity) with Israeli (a nationality) and Judaism (a religion). The conflict is also often diluted into a racial narrative of “White” (Israelis) vs “non-White”(Palestinians).
This is important because words and definitions matter. When used incorrectly, they contribute to the spread of misinformation which can lead to bias, discrimination, or even violence.
So let’s break it down.
Race, ethnicity, nationality, and religion are all social constructs, meaning they are created by humans and not objective realities.
Race refers to people with similar physical characteristics and sometimes ancestry.
Ethnicity refers to a group of people who share distinct ancestry and culture.
Culture refers to characteristics of a particular group of people that includes language, religion, food, dress, music, art, and social behaviors.
Nationality most commonly refers to a person’s country of birth and/or their country of citizenship. Nationality can also refer to an ethnic group with a shared geographic location.
Religion refers to a set of beliefs, practices, and systems of a particular group of people, often involving a higher power/s.
The US census race categories are: White, Black or African American, American Indian or Alaska Native, Asian, and Native Hawaiian or Other Pacific Islander. White is described as: A person having origins in any of the original peoples of Europe, the Middle East, or North Africa.
Both Jews and Arabs are ethnic, not racial, groups. There are Jews and Arabs with white, brown, and black skin. However, both groups are often racialized, meaning they are affected by racist discrimination. For example, the Holocaust had nothing to do with Judaism the religion, but rather was based on the belief that Jewish people were an inferior, impure race.
The Jewish people are an ethnoreligious group, meaning an ethnic group with a shared religion - Judaism. However, one does not have to practice Judaism to be Jewish. Halacha, traditional Jewish law, states that anyone born to a Jewish mother is Jewish.
The Arab people are an ethnolinguistic group, meaning an ethnic group with a shared language - Arabic. This also includes descendants of Arab-speaking people, even if they don’t speak Arabic themselves.
The Palestinian people are an Arab ethnonational group, meaning an ethnic group with a shared nationality.
The Israeli people are a nationality, meaning someone who was either born in Israel or has Israeli citizenship.
People can belong to more than one racial, ethnic, or national group, but it is generally agreed that people can only belong to one religious group.
A Muslim is a person who follows the religion of Islam. Islam is a universalizing religion, meaning it is open to everyone, actively seeks new members, and anyone can easily convert.
Judaism is the ethnic religion of the Jewish people. Ethnic religions are inherited from generation to generation within a specific ethnic group, and are deeply entwined with that ethnic group’s culture, ancestry, and geography. Ethnic religions do not proselytize or actively seek members outside of the ethnic group.
Anyone can choose to convert to Judaism through a lengthy process into the religion, by which they also become a member of the ethnic group. However, someone born to a Jewish mother who then converts to another religion would be considered a “meshamud” or “apostate,” meaning they have renounced Judaism, and with it their identity as a Jew. So while technically still ethnically Jewish, they would no longer be considered a Jew according to Halacha.
Most Arabs (and Palestinians) are Muslim, but most Muslims are not Arab. Islam is the dominant religion of over 50 countries, whereas the Arab World (countries whose primary language is Arabic) consists of 22 countries in the Middle East and North Africa. There are about 1.9 billion Muslims and 460 million Arabs worldwide. Of those 460 million Arabs, about 14.5 million are Palestinian. The largest Palestinian communities comprise of about 2 million in Gaza, 3 million in the West Bank, 2 million in Israel, and 3 million in Jordan.
Israel is the only Jewish-majority country in the world. Israel has a population of just under 10 million. About 73% of Israelis are Jewish, 21% are Arab, and 6% are other. There are about 15 million Jews worldwide - only 0.2% of the world population. While there are Jews all over the world, about half live in Israel and most others in the United States.
There are many more details I could add about these identities, but this feels like a good stopping point for now. Please keep in mind, as I stated earlier, that these categories are social constructs. They are imperfect labels and not indisputable facts, with many exceptions and few rules. Yet I hope this guide will serve as a useful tool toward having nuanced conversations about Israel, Palestine, and the conflict.
Sources:
https://www.census.gov/quickfacts/fact/note/US/RHI625222#:~:text=OMB%20requires%20five%20minimum%20categories,Other%20Pacific%20Islander)%20for%20race.
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