התעשייה הערבית במשק הישראלי

The position of inferiority of Arab industry is the consequence of its mode of incorporation into the Israeli economy. During the last five decades, Arab industry shifted from traditional household production toward higher levels of industrial activity. This has been a transformation of an ethnic minority lacking government support. Consequently, Arab industry has preserved its branch composition relying on small household production and informal subcontracting activities, which exist side by side with an increasing number of workshops and factories. The labor force structure, the nature of sources of capital and investments, and the pattern of industrial linkages all remain inferior to an advanced form of industrial production. At present there are three major mechanisms operating to inhibit advanced Arab industrial development. The first factor is related to the mechanisms inhibiting change which are internal to the Arab society and thus affecting industrial production. The second factor is concerned with the peripheral position of the Arab economy within the Israeli economic space, and the location of Arab settlements in the national periphery. The third factor is concerned with the influence of the majority-minority relationships on the national pattern of development, and specifically on the development and growth of Arab industry. These factors perpetuate the peripheral status of Arab industry and do not enable it to advance to a position from which it could rise to higher levels of industrial development.