Shlomit, the non-profit organization that arranges placements for secular national service volunteers, registered 213 young Arab volunteers between December and March, compared with 130 volunteers who began their national service last year.
If this trend continues, the total number of volunteers for 2007 is expected to double the registered number for 2006.
This is the first year that men - both Jewish and Arab - can officially volunteer for national service. Prior to 2007, men were only able to volunteer through a trial program for male volunteers.
Approximately half of the new Arab volunteers are Muslims, including many Bedouin, and the other half are Christians, mostly from the western Galilee.
The legitimacy of national service is widely debated among Israeli Arabs, with many community leaders claiming that providing service to the state constitutes support of its military actions.
According to a proposal currently being drafted by the Prime Minister's Office, young Arabs would in the future be allowed to volunteer for a separate "community service" within their own communities.
According to Haya Shmuel, director of Shlomit, many of the local Arab leaders make a point of insuring that the people volunteering for national service serve in their own communities, even though the volunteers themselves often prefer to ventures outside their hometowns.
Education Minister Yuli Tamir has increased the number of positions open to volunteers within Arab schools, and it will be doubled next year.
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