Quiz Yourself on 'Israeli Democracy'
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Posted on APRIL-22-2002
Is it Israeli Democracy or "Jewish Democracy", you be the judge. Are
you aware that:
Prior to the 1948 war, Palestinian Christians and Muslims were a two-
third majority of the population of Palestine, who owned and operated
93% of Palestine's lands?
Prior to the 1948 war, most Israeli Jews were persecuted and
dispossessed European Jews who made a one-third minority of the
population?
For Israel to become a "Jewish majority" it opted to expel and
dispossess the two-third Palestinian majority?
80% of the Palestinian people were dispossessed from their homes,
farms, and businesses and have been kept out for the past 54 years?
95% of Israel's lands (which is mostly owned by Palestinian refugees)
is open for development to Jews only?
Only one of the 45 Zionist Jews who sign the Israeli "declaration of
independence" on May 14th, 1948 was born in Palestine. The other 44
were mostly Jewish refugees who escaped their anti-Semitic Europe
countries, such as Tsarist Russia, Germany, and Poland.
Israeli-Palestinian citizens live almost in segregated communities (or
ghettos) because development is strictly limited outside their
villages? Ironically, the word "ghetto" was invented to describe the
living conditions of Eastern European Jews in Tsarist Russia!
For just being "Jewish" you gain an automatic citizenship in Israel?
Plus tens of thousands of dollars in subsidies too.
Palestinian Muslims or Christians refugees, who were born in the
country and later expelled, cannot gain Israeli citizenship? Of course,
unless they convert to Judaism first!
Pretending to be Jewish in Israel is punishable by law with up to one
year's imprisonment? On the other hand, if you pretend to be a Muslim
or Christian the law does you no harm!
When the Palestine problem was created by Britain in 1917, more than
92% of the population of Palestine were Arabs and there were at that
time no more than 56,000 Jews in Palestine? That Muslim, Christian, and
Jewish Palestinians at that time lived in peace with each other?
Palestinians in the early 20th century owned 97.5% of the land, while
Jews (native Palestinians and recent immigrants together) owned only
2.5% of the land?
Close to 4 million Palestinian Muslims and Christians are being
subjected to Israeli laws that are different than the laws governing
the 4.5 million Israeli Jews? Is this a "democratically" elected
apartheid, or not, that is the question?
In the occupied West Bank there are "Jewish Roads" and "Non-Jewish
Roads"?
Israel issues national identify cards where the religion of the card
holder is clearly shown in bold type?
Palestinians in the occupied West Bank and Gaza drive vehicles with
license plates that have different coloring than the cars driven by
Israeli settlers?
Palestinians in the occupied West Bank and Gaza hold ID cards that are
of different colors than the cards held by Israeli settlers?
The only form of Judaism recognized by the "Jewish state" is Orthodox
Judaism, so most US Jews could not get married in Israel. Furthermore,
the only conversion to Judaism recognized is Orthodox, so most US
converts aren't Jewish enough.
Just prior to the 1948 war, Jews owned under 7% of Palestine's land,
and to increase their share after the war, they passed the "Absentees'
Law" which dispossessed the Palestinian majority land owners who later
became "absent". What is even more tragic was the passage of an
oxymoron law, called "Present Absentees' Law," which dispossessed the
Palestinian-Israeli citizens who became internal refugees in Israel. It
is worth noting that the internal Jewish refugees were not dispossessed
as a result of this racist law.
The U.S. funneled into the Israeli economy over 130 billion dollars,
which is almost twice the amount devoted to rebuilding Western Europe
after WW II!
Israeli democracy is a facade for "Jewish Democracy?"
Israel has nuclear weapons, and it was close to dropping one on Cairo
in 1973?
Israeli soldiers use human shields in battle to minimize their
casualties?
Israel killed over 20,000 Lebanese and Muslims (90% of whom are
civilians) with American made and paid for weapons?
The concept of "transferring" European Jews to Palestine and
"transferring" the Palestinian people out is central to Zionism. Ben-
Gurion, the 1st Israeli Prime Minister, eloquently articulated this
essential Zionist pillar, he stated in 1944:
"Zionism is a TRANSFER of the Jews. Regarding the TRANSFER of the
[Palestinian] Arabs this is much easier than any other TRANSFER. There
are Arab states in the vicinity . . . . and it is clear that if the
[Palestinian] Arabs are removed [to these states] this will improve
their condition and not the contrary." (Expulsion Of The Palestinians,
p. 159) Note the usage of the word "transfer" to signify the uprooting
of the indigenous population to make room for Jewish refugees. Now a
days this is a war crime called Ethnic Cleansing.
Based on our correspondence with many Zionists and their sympathizers
in the West, we find the majority of them WISH to continue to live in
the illusion that Palestine was empty and it was waiting for its
"people to redeem it." But deep inside, they all suspect the Zionist
narrative to be a farce. However, their memories of the Holocaust
abstract them from reality and that makes them heartless. The
Palestinian people has been underwriting their "Never Again" slogan
with their homes, blood, and future since the establishment of the
"Jewish state". For the average person this slogan may not sound harsh;
after all European Jews suffered European anti-Semitism for centuries.
On the other hand, to us, the Palestinian people, this slogan implies
Never Again regardless of the price; Never Again period. Similarly,
Holocaust memories (and the guilt associated with it) are the primary
reasons why Western countries (who continue to parade the "Jewish state
as the only democracy in the Middle East") turn a blind eye to Israeli
war crimes and apartheid. In a nutshell, the Palestinian people are the
messiah to whoever caused the Holocaust, turned a blind eye to it, or
feel guilty for its victims.
__________________________________________________________________________________
February 15, 2007 Is Israel a Democracy? by Mazin Qumsiyeh
From Sharing the Land of Canaan by Mazin Qumsiyeh, copyright Pluto
Press 2004
"The Jewish State cannot exist without a special ideological content.
We cannot exist for long like any other state whose main interests is
to insure the welfare of its citizens." Israeli Prime Minister Yitzhak
Shamir, New York Times, 14 July 1992
"Woe to those who devise wickedness and work evil upon their beds!
When the morning dawns, they perform it, because it is in the power of
their hand. They covet fields, and seize them; and houses, and take
them away; they oppress a man and his house, a man and his
inheritance." Micah 2:1-2
Examining the nature of individual and state relation is crucial to
peace. Regardless of the solution advocated, any state or states in the
region have to relate to their internal minorities. Since we should
all agree that human rights are a cornerstone, it is important to think
through the nature of state government. There are now great pressures
on the Palestinians to ensure that any future governing body is
democratic and transparent. As we will show later, the prospect of a
separate and truly sovereign Palestinian state in the West Bank and
Gaza are rather remote. That leaves, the other governing body now with
great power and sovereignty over the areas: Israel. Many Israelis
describe Israel the only democracy in the area. Many Palestinians
describe Israel as an ethnocentric racist state built on their
destruction as a society. To arrive at a mutually agreed to solution,
it seems logical that such varied interpretations need to be reconciled
by a serious examination of Israeli basic laws and what they are
intended to accomplish. If some laws are discriminatory and/or racist,
then perhaps addressing those would be key to a durable peace.
Basic Analysis of the "Basic Laws"
Amnesty International in a report on "Racism and the Administration of
Justice" reported:
In Israel for example, several laws are explicitly discriminatory.
These can be traced back to Israel's foundation in 1948 which, driven
primarily by the racist genocide suffered by Jews in Europe during the
Second World War, was based on the notion of a Jewish state for Jewish
people. Some of Israel's laws reflect this principle and as a result
discriminate against non-Jews, particularly Palestinians who had lived
on the lands for generations. Various areas of Israeli law
discriminate against Palestinians. The Law of Return for instance
provides automatic Israeli citizenship for Jewish immigrants, whereas
Palestinian refugees who were born and raised in what is now Israel are
denied even the right to return home. Other statutes explicitly grant
preferential treatment to Jewish citizens in areas such as education,
public housing, health, and employment (ref 1)
My analysis in this chapter is not intended to be comprehensive
because in addition to such human rights resources, there are many
books and other resources available on this issue (ref 2). Israeli law
is a vast subject well beyond the scope of this work but we need to at
least address some key concepts and basic laws in order to articulate
what would need to happen for a durable solution based on equality.
Let us start at the beginning of Israel's ambition and genesis of
Israel's laws with an excerpt from Israel's declaration of Independence
(May 15, 1948):
We declare that, with effect from the moment of the termination of the
Mandate being tonight, the eve of Sabbath, the 6th Iyar , 5708 (15th
May, 1948), until the establishment of the elected, regular authorities
of the State in accordance with the Constitution which shall be adopted
by the Elected Constituent Assembly not later than the 1st October
1948, the People's Council shall act as a Provisional Council of State,
and its executive organ, the People's Administration, shall be the
Provisional Government of the Jewish State, to be called Israel.
Needless to say, the constitution was never written. Reasons given
for not promulgating a constitution have ranged from instability and
war to the issue of religion and Halachic law. The Knesset's own web
site states the following:
Since the Constituent Assembly and the first Knesset were unable to
put a constitution together, the Knesset started to legislate basic
laws on various subjects. After all the basic laws will be enacted,
they will constitute together, with an appropriate introduction and
several general rulings, the constitution of the State of Israel (ref
3)
Basic Laws of the state of Israel can be found at the website of the
Israel Ministry of Foreign affairs in both Hebrew and English 4.
Although they are mistranslated in English to obfuscate the separation
in the Hebrew text between "Ezrahut" (Citizenship) and being a member
of 'Am Yisrael' (the people of Israel, referring to all Jews anywhere).
Gentiles cannot be part of the nation of Israel or Am Yisrael even if
citizens of the state. This is an important point to emphasize. By
Israeli law, every Jew regardless of cultural, genetics, or citizenship
is considered a national of Israel, a member of "Am Yisrael" (the
people of Israel) and is entitled to automatic benefits of residency
and life in the self-declared Jewish state. According to the so called
"law of return":
Every Jew has the right to come to this country as an oleh ? An Oleh's
visa shall be granted to every Jew who has expressed his desire to
settle in Israel, unless the Minister of Immigration is satisfied that
the applicant (1) is engaged in an activity directed against the
Jewish people; or (2) is likely to endanger public health or the
security of the State.
Under this law, no Jew can immigrate to Israel; Jews (including
converts) "return" (hence the name of the law). You actually have to
reject this "Oleh" (this alludes to going to higher level when
"returning" to Israel) if you are Jewish and happen to have any form of
residency in Israel but do not wish to become a citizen. The law is
thus not an immigration law per se, because all non-Jews who wish to
live in Israel on a permanent basis go through an entirely different
set of laws which are analogous to immigration laws in other
countries. Also, only Jews are given financial and logistical support
once they "return"/make "aliyah".
In the Hebrew version of what English version of the law call
"Nationality Law", the actual word used is "Ezrahut" meaning
Citizenship. In the English version of the law, this is intentionally
mistranslated on the Israeli government sites as "nationality". There
is no "nationality" status apart from "Jewish nationality" in Israeli
law (all Jews are considered Jewish nationals and part of Am Yisrael,
the people of Israel). In Hebrew that word is "Le'om" not Ezrahut. The
Ezrahut law states:
The Ezrahut Law relates to persons born in Israel or resident therein,
as well as to those wishing to settle in the country, regardless of
race, religion, creed, sex or political belief. Citizenship (again
Ezrahut not Le'ot status) may be acquired by:
Birth
The Law of Return
Residence
Naturalization
Acquisition of Ezrahut by birth is granted to:
1. Persons who were born in Israel to a mother or a father who are
Israeli citizens.
2. Persons born outside Israel, if their father or mother holds
Israeli citizenship, acquired either by birth in Israel, according to
the Law of Return, by residence, or by naturalization.
3. Persons born after the death of one of their parents, if the late
parent was an Israeli citizen by virtue of the conditions enumerated in
1. and 2. above at the time of death.
4. Persons born in Israel, who have never had any nationality and
subject to limitations specified in the law, if they: Apply for it in
the period between their 18th and 25th birthday and have been residents
of Israel for five consecutive years, immediately preceding the day of
the filing of their application.
According to this basic law, you acquire Israeli citizenship by:
Birth, the (Jewish) "Law of Return," Residence, or Naturalization. For
each of these categories, a Palestinian born in a village in the
Galilee and expelled in 1948 does not qualify because of the language
used in the law. Thus, while specifically not stating so, this law is
directed against native Palestinians. Its language sophistry cannot
hide its intentions. Further being a citizen means you are either a
citizen national or a citizen non-national. Those who are citizens but
not nationals (such as the Palestinians who remained after the
expulsions of 1947-1949) cannot benefit from any of the institutions or
privileges reserved to nationals. These include services of the supra-
state groups that basically wield significant portion of power on
Israel lands and resources such as the Jewish National Fund, World
Zionist Organization, Jewish Agency. JNF controls 1/3rd of the water
resources for example. The Israel Lands Administration controls 90
percent of the land in Israel.
"Absentee" Laws
The Palestinians who could not become citizens had their property
allocated to Jews based on the "Absentee laws" enacted in 1950. This
law stated, "all absentees' property is under the care of a custodian."
Under this law, absentees were defined as anyone who had been away from
his home, either within the borders of Israel or in a neighboring
state, on or after November 29, 1947. This new legislation gave rise
to a new and paradoxical category: "Present Absentees," i.e., those
Palestinians who had remained inside the borders of the state after
November 29, 1947, but who were outside of their village. These
citizens, also known as "internal refugees," account for at least one
fourth of all Palestinian citizens in Israel. In 1958, the Knesset
passed the Israel Lands law, a basic law that prohibits transfer of
land ownership: "The ownership of Israel lands, being the lands in
Israel of the State, the Development Authority or the Keren Kayemet Le-
Israel, shall not be transferred either by sale or in any other
manner." In 1960, a new state body, the Israel Lands Authority, was
established as a governmental office responsible for the administration
of all Israeli Lands including the lands of the "absentees" and the law
became applicable to this body. Thus, the land is administered for
Jewish development but can never be transferred or owned by others.
In 1958, the Law of Return was amended so as not to apply to those
born as Jews who converted to other religious faiths. The law was
upheld despite a 1962 challenge by Oswald Rufeisen. Rufeisen belonged
to a Zionist youth movement in Poland. He was a holocaust survivor who
saved other Jews but later converted to Chrsitianity and became a
priest. In the 1950s, he moved to Israel. The state denied his
petition for citizenship under the Law of Return. The High Court of
Justice rejected his claim even though the Chief Rabbinate ruled in his
favor because he was "Jewish" based on Halacha rules. In 1970, the
guidelines of immigration eligibility were more clearly defined and it
now states that anyone who is the child or grandchild of a Jew can
immigrate and also bring their families with them. But the1958 law
barring converted Jews is still in force.
Until recently, the Israel interior ministry issued ID cards to
citizens that list their "nationality" (Jewish, Arab, Druze,
Assyrian). The full list was kept confidential but the ministry
refused requests by a group calling itself "I am Israeli" to list their
nationality as "Israeli." The ministry instead chose to drop the
designation on the cards all together. Legally, the category of
"Israeli nationality" simply does not exist. Israel's supreme court
decision of 1970 in George Tamarin v The State of Israel simply ruled
that there is no Israeli Nationality apart from Jewish Nationality
(Le'om, Am Yisrael). President of the High Court Justice Shimon
explained that recognizing an Israeli nationality ?would negate the
very foundation upon which the State of Israel was formed" (ref 5).
The minority of Palestinians who managed to remain in the newly formed
state of Israel (1/4th of the original Palestinian population) are the
most directly impacted by Israeli law. Absentee laws allowed the
Israeli government to declare that non-Jews who left (refugees) or had
remained and become "equal" Israeli citizens to be declared absent in
order that their property could be confiscated as "abandoned"
property. The property is turned over to the Jewish Agency for the
exclusive use of Jews. In the law it does not use the word "Jews" but
the words "those who benefit from the law of return", which is
equivalent to Jews. In fact, there have been Palestinians, who are
nominally Israeli citizens, who tried to lease their own land and were
not allowed to because they were not Jews (see below).
Here is some of what Tom Segev wrote on "Absentee law" in his book:
The definition in the law was changed to embrace all who had abandoned
their 'usual place of residence', even if they were still living in
(and "equal" residents of) Israel ... the law defined them as
absentees, even if they had only left their homes for a few days and
stayed with relatives in a nearby village or town, waiting for the
fighting to end. Later they came to be referred to as 'present
absentees' (in Hebrew, nochihim nifkadim). The majority of them were
not allowed to return to their homes. Those refugees who were
permitted to return to Israel after the war were also formally
absentees and their property was not restored to them and quoting M.
Porath in a secret report to the Minister of Finance:
".. the fact that we are holding the property of legal residents of
the country, who otherwise enjoy all the normal rights of citizenship,
is a source of great bitterness and constant agitation among the Arabs
who are affected by it. Most of the complaints made by Arabs against
our department are made by 'absentees' who see their property in the
hands of others and can't bear it. These absentees try by every means
to get their lands back, and offer to lease them even at exorbitant
rents. In accordance with the general rule originally established, our
office does not lease the lands expropriated by the government to the
present absentees (i.e. non-Jews), so as not to weaken our control over
the properties ... The number of 'present absentees' runs into the
thousands, most of them owners of real estate. There are already new
people (Jews) living on some of these properties ... Any attempt to
return the properties to these absentees would, therefore, adversely
affect thousands, or tens of thousands, of settlers ..." (ref 6)
Thus, inside the green line (Israel's borders before 1967),
legislation forms the basis for justifying government land acquisition
and transfer from native people (gentiles) to Jewish settlers. After
adapting British Mandate property laws to absorb the lands and
properties already claimed as public, Israel's Knesset enacted its own
laws. The first in a tactical series of Basic Laws, the Absentee
Property Law, authorized the state to confiscate any property if
between the end of November 1947 and May 19, 1948 the legal owner or
owners were absent from the property for even one day. The law, passed
in 1950, was retroactive and had a sweeping effect on the Arab
population. This new law created a basic premise for future land
confiscation.
A basic law passed in 1985 by the Knesset, represents an official
exclusion from political participation of any party that does not
assent to the primacy of Israel's Jewish identity and raison d'皻re.
The law's enactment came as a response to two tendencies: racism
towards non-Jewish citizens, as expressed in Rabbi Kahane's "Kach"
party; and a challenge, posed by the Progressive List for Peace, a
joint Arab-Jewish party, to the state's identification as "Jewish." the
law states that:
A list of candidates shall not participate in the elections for the
Knesset if its aims or actions, expressly or by implication, point to
one of the following:
1.) Denial of the existence of Israel as a state of the Jewish people.
2.) Denial of the democratic nature of the state.
3.) Incitement to racism.
Clearly it becomes illegal under this law to call for changes in the
law challenging the concept of a state for a religious community around
the world, a state "of the Jewish people", or to make Israel a state of
its citizens.
Institutionalized Discrimination
Israel's treatment of the Palestinians who remained within its borders
following the ethnic cleansing of 1947-1949 (detailed in Chapter 4) is
particularly telling. Palestinians were placed under Martial law from
1948-1966 while Jewish immigrants consolidated their control, built
settlements on confiscated Palestinian lands, built an infrastructure
and a working country from the infrastructure of Palestine. In 1966,
the Martial law was lifted and Palestinians were supposed to be "equal
citizens." The reality was far from equal, as the discussion of
Israeli laws above illustrate. While Palestinians were now a minority
with voting rights, they were also excluded from all aspects of the
society that defined itself as a Jewish culture and state. Details of
these issues can be found on web pages of Israeli Palestinians and the
human rights organizations in Israel that are trying to preserve some
semblance of human rights.
According to the Arab Association for Human Rights there are about 100
Palestinian Arab villages in Israel that the government does not
recognize officially:
Over 70,000 Palestinian Arab citizens live in villages that are
threatened with destruction, prevented from development and are not
shown on any map. Despite the fact that most of the 'unrecognized
villages' existed before the establishment of Israel, state policy
considers their inhabitants as lawbreakers. It prevents them from
repairing existing homes or building new ones; withholds basic rights,
such as drinking water and health clinics; and in certain cases even
fences off whole villages. These measures coincide with a wider policy
of concentrating Palestinian Arabs and ?redeeming? their lands for new
Jewish mitzpim (The mitzpim ?lookout? settlements were established as
part of the Judaisation of the Galilee program to change the
demographic balance of Arab areas.) settlements. Many of these
settlements are built next to their unrecognized neighbors, often
illegally, yet with a complete provision of services.
The villages were delegalized by the enactment of the (1965) Planning
and Construction Law. This law set down a framework of regulations and
a national outline plan for the country?s future development. It zoned
land for residential, agricultural and industrial use, and forbade any
form of unlicensed construction or construction on agricultural lands.
The unrecognized villages were not incorporated into the planning
schemes, and their lands were reclassified as agricultural. Villagers
were not consulted on either the law or its plans (ref 7)
The living conditions in these areas became horrific. The areas had
no schools, no sewage, no water, no electricity, and no medical
services. The poor in these villages are not even counted in the
statistics that determine poverty levels in the country. Many live in
conditions analogous to refugee camps in Gaza or Lebanon when they are
supposedly Israeli citizens. While occasional civil rights groups
tried to affect a change in the law, these have been largely
ineffective or have resulted in superficial, cosmetic changes only.
Over 130,000 Bedouins (Palestinian tribes with usually fixed territory
but movable dwellings) are descendents from the few thousand who
remained after the ethnic cleansing of 1947-1949. They are considered
Israeli citizens and many even served in the Israeli army. The
Bedouins and the Druz are the only non-Jewish communities who regularly
serve in the Israeli army. Moshe Shohat, the Israeli government
official in charge of Bedouin affairs Shohat spoke about ?blood-thirsty
Bedouins who commit polygamy, have 30 children and continue to expand
their illegal settlements, taking over state land.? As for providing
schools with indoor plumbing, he added ?in their culture they take care
of their needs outdoors ? They don?t even know how to flush a toilet?
(ref 8).
On August 17, 2001, the Jewish Week wrote that the government's
inquiry into these remarks via a committee headed by Doron Mor is
questioned. Mor did not even want to look at Shohat's book that
contained racist slurs against Bedouins. The Jewish Week candidly put
this at the end of their article titled "Bedouin Probe Seen As
?Farce?":
While being questioned by Mor as part of his probe, a reporter was
told no less than three times that 'if you are truly an Orthodox Jewish
Zionist you will write another article talking about how much the
government and Mr. Shohat have done for the Bedouin' (ref 8).
As of that writing Shohat was still in Charge of Bedouin affairs.
Bedouins and Palestinians in general who are Israeli citizens ask
rightly why their interests in the government are represented not by
their own members but by Jews and worse yet by Jews who are racist and
bigoted Zionists. Shohat is not the first and perhaps won't be the
last of Israeli officials who adhere to the classic Zionist philosophy
that concerned itself only with the fate of the Zionist Jews at the
expense of the native Palestinians.
The contradiction between democracy and the Jewish character of the
state is best illustrated by these comments from Haaretz:
Our right to Eretz Israel and our right to establish a sovereign
national entity on it does not depend on our numbers, and on whether we
are a majority or a minority. This land was our country when we were a
small, isolated minority.
Five hundred or a thousand years ago, a few thousand Jews lived in the
country. In 1919, the League of Nations recognized the Jewish people's
right to the land, without any connection to their number in it (tens
of thousands). In 1948, 600,000 Jews lived in the country. The
numerical issue was never brought up as an element determining the
Jewish people's connection to or belonging in the country.
Hence, for us it doesn't matter whether there are more Jews or Arabs
here. Of course, we would prefer it if there are a majority of Jews
here. But no matter, the Jewish people will retain their right to the
country.
By definition the state of Israel was founded as a Jewish state. The
regime constituted in it is democratic in character, but its essence is
Jewish. And if there is a contradiction between this essence and the
character of the government, it is clear that the essence takes
precedence, and that steps are to be taken to prevent damage or changes
to this Jewish essence. Democracy cannot to be exploited to destroy
the Jewish state.
Legislators should settle this point in clear, categorical terms,
without any qualms of conscience or moral compunction. Absolute
justice holds that the state of Israel is, and has always been, the
only Jewish state, and this country has been solely that of the Jewish
people. That's how things have been defined, and that's how they will
remain. Whoever wants a different state should look for it somewhere
else (ref 9).
The Jewish Agency, a supra-national entity, states about the "law of
Return":
In 1950, Israel?s Knesset passed a remarkable law, beginning with a
few simple words that defined Israel?s central purpose: 'Every Jew has
the right to immigrate to this country...' Two thousand years of
wandering were officially over. Since then, Jews have been entitled to
simply show up and declare themselves to be Israeli citizens, assuming
they posed no imminent danger to public health, state security, or the
Jewish people as a whole. Essentially, all Jews everywhere are Israeli
citizens by right (ref 10).
Zionist philosophy is thus built upon the concept that Eretz Yisrael,
is a "birthright" that was conferred upon all Jews (defined to include
anyone who has not acquired another religion even though he/she might
not be a practicing Jew). It is no accident that the latest Zionist
venture in America providing free trips to Israel for Jewish American
kids is called "Birthright Israel". The land belongs to the Jewish
people and not the citizens of the state or the native people
displaced. The justification for this Jewish "right", is that God
(Yahweh) made "the promise" of giving the land to Abraham's descendents
as an "everlasting covenant." Many religious Jews argue that only if
they keep God's commands they were to keep the land and the fact of
their dispersion is testament to God's will. Christianity is based on
the concept that the arrival of the Messiah extended God's promise to
all humanity and fulfilled the promises of the Old Testament. A tiny
minority of Christians justify Zionism on religious grounds (these are
called "Christian Zionists"). But in either case, this religious
"justification" no matter how flawed theologically would have to be
reconciled with the evidence that most of the Zionist Jews trace
ancestry to European Khazars and not Semitic people (see Chapter 3).
Further, the basic laws do not give a right to a Christian family to
"return" even if their ancestors were original Hebrews. They do give a
right to converts to Judaism to "return."
The "law of return" clearly applies to members of a particular
religion and gives them an automatic right of citizenship in a country
where they have never physically been. Non-Jews are not eligible for
this a "right" regardless of birth, ancestry or other factors. Jews
who do not identify with Zionist ideologies can also be excluded at the
discretion of the interior ministry under the section that talks about
a threat to the Jewish nation. Thus, Palestinian refugees maybe
excluded even if they convert to Judaism. Israel is the only country
that nationalizes any person regardless of where they live only by
virtue of a religious identification (being Jewish).
All citizens of Israel can vote for the Knesset, the Prime Minister,
parties, union, and municipal elections. In this sense they have
citizenship rights. However, Israel is the only country in which there
are also a set of rights reserved for "nationals" which are denied to
non-Jewish citizens. The nationals are defined as 'Am Yisrael' (the
people of Israel or the Jewish People). Other privileges enshrined in
law for those who serve in the Israeli army but they are granted to
"nationals" who do not serve in the army (orthodox Jews). Again,
Palestinians are denied these benefits or basic rights. Nationals have
benefits beyond automatic citizenship, which include land rights, and
economic, cultural and political benefits. These rights are all denied
to non-Jews.
Without clearly addressing Israeli laws, prospects for lasting peace
remain dim. Israel defines itself and shapes its laws based on the
premise that it is not a country of its citizens but a state for and by
Jews throughout the world. The land of Israel (Erez Yisrael) is held
"in trust" for Am Yisrael ("the Jewish people", the people of Israel).
Land leasing and other laws are intended to ensure transfer of land
ownership from Palestinians Christians and Muslims to Jews. This has
resulted in the wholesale ethnic cleansing, discrimination, and racism
against non-Jewish natives of the land. This Zionist discourse could
not be achieved without mass violence, a topic that will be addressed
in the next chapter.
Notes to Chapter 7:
1. A report on "Racism and the Administration of Justice", Amnesty
International (2001), also found at http://www.amnestyusa.
org/stoptorture/racismreport.pdf.
2. For example, see Arye Rattner and Gideon Fishman, Justice for all?
Jews and Arabs in the Israeli Criminal Justice System (Connecticut:
Greenwood Publishing Group Inc., 1998). See also http://www.jr.co.
il/hotsites/i-law.htm http://www.kesher.org.il/legal/main.html and http:
//www.adalah.org
3. The Knesset's website http://www.knesset.gov.il/knesset
4. http://www.israel.org/mfa/go.asp?MFAH00mz0
5. New York Times, 21 January 1972, p. 14; cited in Oscar Kraines, The
Impossible Dilemma: Who is a Jew in the State of Israel (New York:
Bloch Publishing, 1976).
6. Segev, 1949: The First Israelis, Translated by Arlen N. Weinstein
(New York, Henry Holt, 1998), p. 80 and 82.
7. Arab Association for Human Rights background report posted at http:
//www.arabhra.org
8. Bedouin Probe Seen As ?Farce? The Jewish Week, New York, July 20,
2001
9. Noam Arnon, Haaretz, August 28, 2002.
10. View the website of the Jewish Agency for Israel. Their
description of the Law of Return is at http://www.jafi.org.
il/aliyah/aliyah/law.html
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