. >> reporter: mark regev is prime minister benjamin netanyahu's long-time spokesman. and he says that's exactly what the israeli government wants too. >> i agree more needs to be done. e're working on education both for men and for women. we're working on investment and encouraging tax breaks for people to invest in the arab sector. we did a public campaign spent by taxpayers' money encouraging employers to employ israeli arabs. we are fully committed to seeing those israeli arabs, the israeli arab community, as a full participant in the economy. >> reporter: as citizens, arab israelis are guaranteed the same legal rights as the jewish majority. but the new arab leadership in parliament says just spending money won't solve the deeper issues of inequality. >> reporter: the israeli arabs, or as some of them prefer to be called, palestinians living in israel, are the descendants of the 150000 arabs who remained in israel in 1948 following israel's war of independence, what some arabs call the naqba the catastrophe. today there are one point seven million arabs here, 20%