Following are the main results from the survey as specified in the report:
- The data indicate that respondents from the population of Palestinian citizens of Israel feel a lack of personal security because of violence in their communities to a significantly greater extent than respondents from Jewish society. Among the respondents from Arab society, the rate of those who feel an absence of personal security reaches 37%, which dropped significantly in comparison to 2019 when it reached 61%. This decline returned us to a level of differences between the populations similar to that of 2018. In Jewish society, on the other hand, there is no significant change in 2020, where 11% of respondents feel a lack of personal security to a high and a very high degree.
- The data show that similar to previous years, the issues of greatest concern to Arab citizens are violence and crime of the sorts that endanger human life. Nevertheless, there has been a decline in the rate of those worried and very worried by all of the phenomena and manifestations of violence and crime checked in comparison to 2019. Approximately 76% (as opposed to 84% in 2019) of Arab respondents are worried or very worried by violence. As will be presented below, this phenomenon resumed its dominance in relation to the rest of the phenomena concerning Arab society, precisely as it was in 2018. In addition, 74% of the respondents are worried or very worried by crime, in comparison to 84% in 2019.
- Two-thirds of Palestinian citizens of Israel are worried or very worried about being affected by violence – a relative decline compared to the data from 2019 (73.9%), yet still more than in 2018 (59.3%). It is also apparent from the data that concern regarding property violations has been maintained. In 2020, 59% of the Palestinian citizens of Israel were worried or very worried about being affected by property violations.
- In 2020, the fear of harm from any of these offenses was greater in Arab society than in Jewish society. Being affected by crime is the greatest concern among Palestinian citizens (66%), as opposed to 23% of Jewish citizens worried about violence in Jewish society. On the other hand, the subject that raises the highest level of concern in Jewish society is sexual offenses. Close to 27% of Jewish respondents are worried or very worried about this.
- In segmentation of Arab respondents by geographic regions, differences were found in the rate of victims of various kinds of violence. As we will present below, the rate of victims harmed to a great extent or to a very great extent by use of weapons (22%) and cursing, spitting, threats and extortion (19%) is highest among residents of the Negev.
- On the other hand, the highest rate of victims harmed to a great or a very great by unruly rampaging, beatings, vandalism, and arson (30%), as well as 45 sure 259 4 sure of Palestinian citizens of Israel to violence and crime, whether directly or by means of friends or relatives who have been exposed to these phenomena; 3) willingness of Palestinian citizens of Israel to join in the struggle against violence; 4) attitudes of Palestinian citizens with respect to the police and their feelings in relation to how the police acts towards them; 5) the functioning of state authorities regarding the Covid crisis.
The survey was conducted among a representative sample of the entire population of Palestinian citizens of Israel. For the purpose of data comparison, a national survey was conducted simultaneously among a representative sampling of the Jewish population. In 2018 and 2019 an identical survey was distributed in terms of the composition of questions, such that this report includes a multiannual comparison in addition to the comparison between Arab society and Jewish society. This comparison enables us to identify trends and changes which we will add to the matters that we track, and we will follow them every year. The present report also includes segmentation of the responses by residential region for some of the data. This segmentation enables us to better understand Palestinian citizens’ attitudes in accordance with their place of residence. The division of residential areas was done according to an accepted breakdown in Arab society: the Galilee, the Triangle, the Negev, and the mixed cities.
The survey data from 2020 illustrate the lack of personal security and of policingin Arab society. The Arab respondents’ report paints a dismal picture withrespect to the phenomena of violence and crime, among them use of firearms,drug trafficking, property offenses, physical violence and threats, and their effecton the lives of Arab citizens.
