School choice is often analyzed through the lens of neoliberal policy or class strategy. However, for indigenous minorities in conflict-ridden societies, the choice of a hegemonic school system creates a profound dissonance between the desire for social mobility and the imperative of cultural preservation. This paper examines the unique case of middle-class Palestinian citizens of Israel who have migrated from Arab localities in the north to Jewish-majority towns in the southern periphery ("Emerging Mixed Cities"). We conceptualize these parents as "Immigrants in their Homeland": internal migrants who cross invisible but rigid ethno-national borders for employment and education, and find themselves navigating a "Double Periphery" - geographically distant from their cultural centers and socially alienated from the local population.

Drawing on critical sociology of education, the study asks: How do these parents navigate the tension between the neoliberal aspiration for success and the national need for survival?
The findings reveal a complex dialectic of integration and resistance, organized around four key themes: (1) The Trap of "No Choice": Contrary to the "rational choice" discourse, parents frame the enrollment in Jewish schools not as an ideological preference but as a default choice born of distress. The local Arab education system in the south is perceived as "catastrophic" and failing. Thus, the Jewish school becomes the "least bad option" to escape educational marginalization. (2) Education as a Weapon: Parents view academic success in the Jewish system as a "ticket" to admission into Israeli society. Education is metaphorically described as "our only weapon." It is perceived as the sole mechanism available for a minority to overcome structural exclusion and achieve personal security and class mobility. (3) The Hidden Cost: The pursuit of mobility extracts a heavy socio-emotional and cultural price. Children in Jewish schools face micro-aggressions, racism, and "symbolic violence" (e.g., facing national narratives on Independence Day). Parents report a deep heartbreak regarding their children's experiences of alienation ("I don't want to be an Arab") and the dissonance between the school's Zionist curriculum and their Palestinian identity. (4) The Home as a Space of Resistance: To mitigate the "identity cost", parents transform the domestic sphere into a site of active "identity repair". They employ strategies of "Narrative Inoculation": teaching Palestinian history (Nakba) to counter school erasure, supporting the acquisition of Arabic language at home, and creating religious and cultural anchors.

Ultimately, the paper argues that these parents bear a "Double Burden." They function simultaneously as agents of neoliberal social mobility (pushing for academic excellence in Hebrew) and as agents of national resilience (preserving Palestinian identity at home). Their story illustrates that for minorities in conflict zones, school choice is a "Faustian bargain," where the home must constantly compensate for the erasures of the school.

This study utilizes a qualitative, interpretative methodology to explore the lived experiences of Palestinian parents navigating the Israeli education market. The research focuses on the southern periphery of Israel, specifically in urban centers officially designated as "Jewish localities" but functioning as de facto "Emerging Mixed Cities" (Totry-Jubran, 2018) due to the influx of middle-class Palestinian professionals. The study is based on 50 in-depth semi-structured interviews. The sample consists of 45 interviews conducted in Arabic and 5 in Hebrew. The participants are Palestinian internal migrants who moved from the north/center of Israel to the south. This demographic distinction is crucial: unlike the local Bedouin population, these participants represent an upwardly mobile middle class (doctors, engineers, academics) whose educational choices are driven by a distinct set of class habitus and identity conflicts. The interviews were conducted during two highly volatile periods: the "Dignity Uprising" (May 2021) and the onset of the War in Gaza (October 2023). This temporal context is methodologically significant because it brought to the surface the tension between the parents' desire for integration and the reality of enmity and securitization. Data were analyzed using inductive thematic analysis. The research team, comprising both Palestinian and Jewish researchers, engaged in a reflexive analysis of the narratives, focusing on how parents construct the "story" of their choice - from the initial dilemma, through the daily coping with racism, to the proactive strategies of identity preservation at home.

The educational strategies of Palestinian internal migrants in Israel offer a compelling case study of "Compromised Agency". The findings challenge the binary view of school choice as either assimilation or resistance. Instead, we observe a complex duality: First, Education as a Survival Strategy. For these parents, choosing a Jewish school is a pragmatic deployment of class capital to bypass the "social containment" of the neglected Arab education system. It is an act of claiming the right to quality education, even if it means crossing enemy lines. Second, The Privatization of Identity. The state's refusal to provide high-quality, culturally relevant education forces parents to privatize the transmission of national identity. The home becomes a "bunker" of Palestinian narrative, tasked with undoing the erasure performed by the school. The study concludes that these parents are "Immigrants in their Homeland" - not only geographically but institutionally. They live in a permanent state of translation and negotiation, carrying the heavy load of ensuring their children can succeed in the Israeli economy without ceasing to be Palestinian. This underscores the need for policy makers to recognize that "integration" without cultural recognition is merely a form of erasure, forcing families to live in a perpetual state of defense.

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