introduction5 Yet this is not to suggest that the citizenship regime in Israel is noninclusive whereas the citizenship regimes of other states are inclusive. As this book argues, there is an intrinsic and categorical Otherizing that lies at the root of the very concept and process of citizenship. This involves the formation and use of an Other, a non-member or outsider who is excepted from but maintained within the social arrangement. Thus, it is far from the case that the citizenship regime in Israel is an anomaly because its citizenship framework is ensconced in a relation of exception. Instead, what sets the Israeli citizenship regime apart, what constitutes the particular peripheral placement of Palestinian-Arabs within it, is the specific mechanisms of Israeli citizenship and the exclusive dynamics of its internal relations. Citizenship is, for the most part, a modern notion; major social and revolutionary movements in the West such as the American War of Independence and the French Revolution have shaped its inclusive and exclusive dynamics (Turner 2002, 271). While incorporating some of this intellectual tradition, contemporary Israeli citizenship is a particular amalgamation of the expansionist mentality of late nineteenth century European colonialism, nationalism and Zionism, and twentieth century wars and settlement projects. This book seeks to deconstruct the mechanisms that are particular to the Zionist citizenship regime. It looks at the inherent dynamics of exclusion within the Zionist citizenship framework that not only place it apart from traditional citizenship regimes, but also render any meaningful citizenship by its Arab population an impossibility. Indeed, only until relatively recently has this segment of Palestinian-Arab society, the Arab citizens, received serious scholarly attention. For the most part, the precarious situation of Arab citizens within the Zionist citizenship regime has been treated by mainstream voices as an internal problem, a domestic Israeli concern, and as a case of troubled stateminority relations. But the recent scholarly efforts of prominent critical Arab, Jewish and Western social science researchers to investigate the Palestinian citizens of Israel have begun to drastically challenge these assumptions. By exposing the Zionist fusing of ‘Jewish’ and ‘Israeli’ identity, and its practical and theoretical effects on Arab citizenship, these scholars have paved the way for new generations of researchers to build on their impressive sociological research on Palestinians in Israel. The existing academic literature has, thus far, largely focused on the question of what Palestinian citizenship entails. What are the levels of domination in Israel? What kinds of rights and privileges are provided to Arabs by virtue of their citizenship? What is the relationship between Arab citizenship and the modern Zionist project of Judaization and