Arameans in Israel are a Christian minority residing in Israel. They claim descent from the Arameans, an ancient Semitic-speaking people in the Middle East in the 1st millennium BC. Some Syriac Christians in the Middle East espouse an Aramean ethnic identity, and a minority in Syria still speak a Western Aramaic language, although the Eastern Aramaic languages are more widely spoken. Most of the Arameans in Israel are part of the Syriac Orthodox Church and the Maronite Church. Until 2014, self-identified Arameans in Israel were registered as ethnic Arabs or without ethnic identity. Since September 2014, Christian families or clans who can speak Aramaic and/or have an Aramaic family tradition are eligible to register as ethnic Arameans in Israel.