Israeli-Palestinian Migrants in Jerusalem: An Emerging Middleman Minority

The increased tendency of Israeli-Palestinians to migrate to Jerusalem, despite internal and external barriers for their migration to Israel's large cities, is examined through a survey of 201 migrants. The role of higher education institutions as an initial pull factor explains their highly educated profile, but opportunities as a middleman minority between Israel and East Jerusalem Palestinians, who lack Israeli citizenship, are prime motives for staying in the city, despite limited housing and schooling choices, associated with not being identified with either Jewish or Palestinian Jerusalem. Although diverging from traditional middleman minorities, in their white-collar public and professional service concentrations and in serving a coethnic group, middleman attributes of Israeli-Palestinians in Jerusalem are most profound, based on being bilingual and possessing necessary formal credentials. Their case serves to broaden the context for the application of the middleman minority concept and to demonstrate the potential and limitations of middleman functions.