12 introduction occasions­and during political gatherings. Supporting the Palestinian struggle against the Zionist colonial project in general, but itself a response to Israel’s policies of exclusion and discrimination against its Arab citizens, the Committee quickly brought a new sense of national unity to Palestinian political activism. And this feeling of solidarity across the dividing borders was reinforced during the first Palestinian Intifada in 1987. During this politically dynamic and tumultuous time, numerous initiatives, marches, and campaigns were held by Arab citizens and their representatives supporting both demands for equality within Israeli society and expressions of support for the struggles of Palestinians in the West Bank and Gaza Strip. The end of the first Intifada and the formal launch of the ‘peace process’ in 1991 with the Madrid Peace Conference opened yet another chapter in the history of Palestinian citizens. Having reached a peak in 1993 with the Oslo Declaration of Principles, the ‘peace process’ completely excluded Palestinians inside Israel from any direct role in the negotiations. The (anti)climactic results of the Oslo Accords targeted the Palestinians in Israel from two angles. First, the intensification of the ‘broader’ conflict triggered an enhanced feeling of existential threat among Israeli Jews, which firmly placed the Arabs in Israel under a marginalizing and repressive security discourse. But perhaps more disconcerting for the community was that the ‘peace process’ had completely ignored the status and political future of the Palestinians in Israel. They were not participants in the building of Palestinian national and political organizations, nor were their concerns as a community subjected to unequal laws and repressive policies ever considered a main issue for the Palestinian national movement (Rouhana and Ghanem 1998, 333). Almost completely ignored in the domestic Israeli arena, and excluded from the Palestinian national movement, Arab citizens were left without representation from all sides. In fact, little has changed since. As the Palestine Papers released in January 2011 revealed, the Palestinian negotiators had agreed to consider absorbing Arab villages (and their residents who are currently Israeli citizens) within a future Palestinian state. Indeed, far from any romantic reasons related to Palestinian national unity, we now know that the Palestinian negotiators agreed to consider the population transfer as a concession to Israel. In other words, the Arab citizens were, at an official diplomatic level, treated as a bargaining chip.19 19 Gregg Carlstrom, “Expelling Israel’s Arab population?” Al Jazeera English, January 24, 2011, http://english.aljazeera.net/palestinepapers/2011/01/2011124105622779946.html. The Palestine Papers were released in January 2011 and contained a collection of nearly 1700 files