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I voted people from Arabic speaking countries, but what I really consider Arabs are native Arabic speakers from Arabic speaking communities, so including Arabic speakers in Iran and excluding non-Arabs in majority Arab countries, like Kurds and Turkmen in Syria and culturally and linguistically Berber groups in the Maghreb. Ethnic origin doesn't matter for my definition, culture and mother tongue does.
North Africa was heavily populated by whites (with some Berber groups also) as were countries in present day Syria and etc. Arabs later went from Saudi Arabia and that part of the world and conquered North Africa along the Mediterranean even going as far as France via Spain and up near to Venice from the other side. Those who talk about white colonialism don't know what the Arabs did.
I say it is inaccurate to call people Arab if they speak and Arab dialect because of the history of Arab conquest. There are still some whites in those lands as well as Berbers and Jews. In the 19th century much of North Africa was settled by whites (I can't call it colonialism because these were white lands to begin with. The Sahara separated Africa) so there was some immigration. Things like language or culture anyone can adopt. How one looks is a function of genes: it's concrete.
The best way to determine if someone is an Arab is to look at him or her. Look for the common Arab facial features, common Arab hair texture and skin color. Obviously with the degree of mixing and the fact that Arabs are not a main race like whites, Asians and blacks, it can get confusing. Id say 99% of time you can easily spot an Arab vs a white person.
By general convention, Arab means a member of an Arabic-speaking culture. Arabian would be an adjective referring only to the Arabian peninsula.
It is similar to the convention about the word Hispanic, which now refers to anyone who is from a Spanish-speaking country, even though many of them have no Spanish ancestry at all and can't even speak Spanish, being full-blooded indigenous, especially in countries like Guatemala and Bolivia.
People from the Arabian Peninsula and the Gulf (Kuwait and parts of Southern Iraq).
Most Lebanese, Jordanian and Syrian people have a near-eastern ancestry (Levant, Phoenician and Assyrian to some extent). A few do have Arab admixture, but that doesn't mean they would be ethnically Arab because of the few that do.
Those of North Africa (Egyptians, Maghreb) seem to be mixed, having Southern European, Arab and even Subsaharan roots.
North Africa was heavily populated by whites (with some Berber groups also) as were countries in present day Syria and etc. Arabs later went from Saudi Arabia and that part of the world and conquered North Africa along the Mediterranean even going as far as France via Spain and up near to Venice from the other side. Those who talk about white colonialism don't know what the Arabs did.
I say it is inaccurate to call people Arab if they speak and Arab dialect because of the history of Arab conquest. There are still some whites in those lands as well as Berbers and Jews. In the 19th century much of North Africa was settled by whites (I can't call it colonialism because these were white lands to begin with. The Sahara separated Africa) so there was some immigration. Things like language or culture anyone can adopt. How one looks is a function of genes: it's concrete.
The best way to determine if someone is an Arab is to look at him or her. Look for the common Arab facial features, common Arab hair texture and skin color. Obviously with the degree of mixing and the fact that Arabs are not a main race like whites, Asians and blacks, it can get confusing. Id say 99% of time you can easily spot an Arab vs a white person.
Arabs are Semitic like the Jews, and the latter has diversity: Ashekenaz (Central and Eastern European), Sephardi (Southern European and North African Jews), and Mizrahi Jews (Middle Eastern). Just like not all Jews are pasty white, not all Arabs are dark skinned and could be mistaken as "white" as well.
The last part of your post was what the Nazis described Jewish people when they rounded them up because they had slight Mideastern traits that define them (Jews are descendants of Hebrews who hailed from the Middle East, like the Arabs). In fact, a few racist German and French people called me a dirty Jew because of my distinct appearance, even though I was not raised Jewish and I am a atheist.
Well, I suppose you might want to at least discuss this with whoever it was who decided to give the modern state of Egypt the full name of The Arab Republic of Egypt.
Which sort of hints at why the OP's poll is so ridiculous - like many identity-related groupings, who is or isn't an Arab is determined by a mixture of geography, language, culture, genetics, and possibly other things. There is likely to be much disagreement among those who have thought about such things on exactly how different factors should be considered and weighed up, but I don't think anyone whose given this serious thought will conclude that it's something that can be determined by geography alone.
Common belief: anyone who originates from an Arabic-speaking country.
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