Middle East

Dhimmi (Non-Muslims)

The Dhimmi, or non-Muslim under Muslim occupation was required during the Umayyad Period to pay a number of taxes that were connected with his Dhimmi status. The most famous was the jizya, which was a tax that Dhimmi had to pay for Muslims for the right to not be killed where they stood for not acknowledging Mohammed's Prophecy; it was a form of humiliation. Additional taxes included the kharaj, which was a tax on non-Muslim land-holdings in the Muslim World. The kharaj was so untenable that most Dhimmi were forced to live in the cities where the tax would not be applicable. On paper, a Christian or Jew could testify against a Muslim, but in reality, such testimony was not acceptable and the attempt to defame a Muslim would receive retribution. Christians and Jews were not allowed to build new houses of worship, restore old houses of worship, proselytize in any way (this included religious debate or dialogue), or allow wine or pigs to be shown in public.

Mawali (Non-Arab Muslims)

Mawali were traditionally excluded from political and social affairs. The Umayyad in particular treated them as second-class Muslims. The evidence of this treatment was that Mawali were not allowed to have many government positions and that they were taxed whereas Arab Muslims were not taxed at all. Mawali made up an important component of the Umayyad Caliphate, especially Persians. Persia was always a high seat of culture in the Islamic Empire. As a result, ideas moved quite freely throughout Persia and Persians considered themselves to be of equal worth to Arabs.

Result

Since they treated both rather horrendously, it is not surprising that the Umayyad Caliphate fell around 100 years after its foundation due to internal strife and localized rebellion. However, most of the rebellion came out of Persian and Moroccan Mawalis who were angered over their disenfranchisement rather than the Dhimmi who did not wish to receive retribution for offending Muslims.

As concerns "Jewish Arabs":

It is important to note, before answering the question, that the people you are referring to are not considered to be "Jewish Arabs" by either Arabs or Jews or themselves. They are typically referred to as "Jews from Arab countries", "Mizrahi Jews", "Mizrahim", or "Sephardi Jews". Many Jews consider the term Jewish Arab offensive because the Jews were in much of the Middle East and North Africa long before the Arabs arrived and did not intermarry with them to a large degree, making them Un-Arabized (as opposed to the remaining indigenous population which did experience this). Therefore, they are not Arabs of Jewish faith, but Jews who happened to grow up in Arab countries.

As concerns Israel:

Racial Jewish demographics are always hard to do in Israel because there is a huge push in Israel for Jews from all different walks of life to intermarry and create a United Sabra Culture. (Sabra is the term for Israeli Cultural Judaism). Mizrahim first came to Israel in the "Exodus Wave" which occurred from 1950-1952. During that period, between 450,000 and 550,000 Mizrahim left the Arab World and came to Israel, with the largest communities leaving from Iraq and Morocco. Israel had, prior to that point, a population of around 600,000. This made the Mizrahim a very large percentage of Israelis.

During the 1960s, the Israeli Religious Population was relatively small and Mizrahim reproduced at a slightly higher rate than Ashkenazim which led to Mizrahim being the largest Jewish community from that period until the 1990s when a mass of Russian Jews shifted the balance back to Ashkenazim being the Jewish majority. However, it is also important to note that the children of the Mizrahim born in Israel in the 1960s and 1970s began to intermarry with the Ashkenazim, leading to many in Israel having mixed heritage. (For example, one-quarter of Israelis claim Moroccan heritage, but only one-fifth claim it from both sides, representing a difference of 250,000 people)

The best estimate today of the Mizrahi Jewish population in Israel would be around 2 million individuals.

As concerns the Palestinian Territories:

There used to be a relatively sizable Mizrahi Jewish population in what would become the Palestinian Territories in the early 1900s (prior to the increase brought on by the Mandatory Period). There were roughly 20,000 Jews in Jerusalem and its environs, as compared with an Arab population of around 300,000 (which is nearly 7%). This grew during the the Mandatory Period to roughly 100,000 Jews, most of whom were not Mizrahi Jews, but the descendants of Europeans.

The Jewish-Arab Engagement of 1947-1949 saw the expulsion of all Jews in the Palestinian Territories as they were seen to be on the side of the Jewish State. The period from 1949-1967 (the Jordanian West Bank) was the only time in the last two millenia when no Jews lived in or were permitted to visit the Old City of Jerusalem. Any endemic Palestinian Jewry crossed into Israel after this forcible expulsion. In 1967, a minority of Israeli Mizrahi Jews (of which some were historically Palestinian, but had shed that title) joined in the settlement building in the West Bank and Gaza, primarily in the environs of Jerusalem and in the Old City itself. However, this was a minority of settlers both because a stronger pull to attract settlers existed in the Ashkenazic Communities (Nationalist fervor) and because those communities contained more individuals. With the Israeli unilateral withdrawal from Gaza, there are no more Mizrahi Jews in that area.

A decent estimate of the Mizrahim remaining in East Jerusalem and the Israeli Settlements scattered throughout the West Bank would be 60,000 (of a total of between 200,000 and 300,000 settlers).

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It is incorrect to suggest any particular person or all members of a particular group as identified by race, religion, or other cultural differences have a difficult time adapting to the way of life in any adopted country.

Humans are highly adaptable by nature, but some more so than others. So, a person moving from, for example, the United Kingdom to another English-speaking country, will adjust to many differences, from climate and clothing to shopping and schooling, and so on.

Some of our hypothetical UK migrants might thoroughly enjoy their new environment; others might see only the differences they don't like, and drift into social groups with other like-minded expatriates, where much complaining about their new country might happen.

Others, while enjoying the company of those from their old country, will merge happily into their new environment and see richness in changes where others might see themselves as deprived of their old ways.

These variations in attitudes can occur within the scope of even a small family; eventually a healthy family adjusts to the benefit of all.

Homesickness is inevitable in all of us, and the greater the changes we experience, the greater the homesickness.

But America, and all other countries built on immigration, are testament to the adaptability of people.

There will always be a minority - frequently a very noisy one - which objects to newcomers, particularly if they seem obviously different and very especially if they look different. Don't be swayed by media reports which seek to magnify problems experienced by those adapting to a new environment. These reports, and those who encourage them, cause problems while never attempting to reach out with a friendly greeting to someone who might be feeling strange and bewildered, and a little scared.

Instead of focusing on differences, focus on similarities. We're all the same, where it doesn't show, and we need to feel safe and comfortable in order to adapt to new surroundings, whether we're a child on our first day at the same school all our siblings and friends are attending, or whether we're a family just arriving in a brand new country which will be our home.

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Arabs or Muslims mostly, have strong connections to their Religion and believe that anyone who disrespects their religion should be executed. Also, in Muslim countries, the religion law is followed strictly, so when the go to America and Westernised countries they are unfamiliar with their way of life because of their strict culture.

The main reason they don't adapt well is because of the different type of laws in other countries which they are not used to.