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ABSTRACT This paper considers a case study of an ethnic state and examines the fundamental predicament of its relationship with an ethnonational minority. By considering the relationship between Israel and its Palestinian citizens, the paper demonstrates how Israel fits the definition of a constitutional ethnic state, points to its binational reality and its limited democracy, and examines the dilemmas that emanate from the contradiction between its ethnic and democratic structures. The essence of the dilemma is the clash between the state's ethnic superstructure and the minority's quest for basic human rights such as equality, inclusion and identity that an ethnic state cannot provide. The paper applies human needs theory to argue that improving the conditions of a minority in an ethnic state will not resolve the conflict between an ethnic state and a minority. Similarly, the paper argues that `ethnic democracy' cannot be a viable option for an ethnonational minority in a multi-ethnic state. The paper examines why the dilemma in the relationship of Israel and its Arab citizens is emerging now and how it can develop into a predicament for the state and the minority, and outlines options for state restructuring in response to the predicament.
An ethnic state, defined as a state that provides a national home to the dominant ethnic group,' inevitably faces a dilemma in its relationship with an ethnonational minority that seeks inclusion on an equal basis. While the dilemma's existence is rooted in the definition of the state, the form of its expression depends on the ethnic state's political regime, the history of the relationship between various ethnic groups and the methods the state uses to maintain control over the minority. The rise of the dilemma on the state's political public agenda depends not only on the means the state uses to deal with it, but also on the minority?s ability to articulate the dilemma and mobilise political resources to place it on that political agenda. If the dilemma develops into a crisis in the relationship between the dominant ethnic group and the ethnonational minority, the two societies may begin a process of negotiation of new parameters of relationship between them that centres around state restructuring. But it is also possible that the dominant ethnic group will try...