xiv acknowledgments Community-Based Associations, and Adalah: The Legal Center for Arab Minority Rights in Israel. The longest and most fruitful of these posts was with Mada al-Carmel, which has served both as an institutional base and a unique intellectual climate whereby I was able to examine the precarious situation of the Palestinian population in Israel. What began as a fourmonth internship at Mada al-Carmel has over the years developed into long-standing and deeper friendships and political alliances. Here the expertise, warmth and intellectual generosity particularly of my dear friend and mentor Nadera Shalhoub-Kevorkian, but certainly also of Janan Abdo, Einas Odeh-Haj, Nadim Rouhana, Areej Sabbagh-Khoury, Mtanes Shihadeh and Himmat Zu’bi have been indispensable. Others who have given of themselves friendships, insight and daily assistance include Aleen Marshy-Akleh, and Sister Rita and Sister Honourine whose company and affection compelled me to return to Haifa. Taken together, my continued work with Palestinians inside Israel has taught me that as an exclusionary legal category, the historical link between the included and excluded in citizenship has often been made from the viewpoint of the former. Part of challenging this tendency therefore involves grounding the study of the Israeli incorporation regime within the standpoint and experiences of the excluded, namely the Palestinian-Arab citizenry. To this end, my examination of the exclusionary dynamics embedded in the concept of citizenship and its particular realization in the Jewish state makes active reference to academic research, analysis and statistics documented by organized segments of the Palestinian community. Here I would like to thank Hassan Jabareen and Rina Rosenberg at Adalah, and Nadim Rouhana at Mada al-Carmel for permitting the respective re-publication of selections of The Democratic Constitution and The Haifa Declaration. My analysis of Israeli society and citizenship in this book has also been informed by the expressions of daily experiences, narratives, thoughts, feelings and struggles of Palestinians, which have throughout the years been shared with me by members of the community. If this book is able to capture even part of the political spirit, intention and drive of the above persons and organizations then it will have been worth the effort.