To be a national will now be required to swear loyalty to Israel as a Jewish and democratic state "
''And then, what ever means was Jewish? ,''asks puzzled Gideon Levy . "A state that belongs to the Jews of the diaspora rather than to its Arab citizens? They will decide our fate, together with the ultra-Orthodox against the existence Israel, and this will still be called a democracy? What is Jewish? The shabbat? The kosher kitchen ? influence stronger every day of the religious authorities? do not know that three Jews agree on what a state Hebrew. Yet the Knesset is about to discuss a dozen other bills similar to this: a loyalty oath for members , restrictions on the activities of nongovernmental organizations, the transformation into a crime of the commemoration of Nakbah , the prohibition of promoting a boycott . The institution of revocation of citizenship . Until Israel was not that a Jewish state in a way that no one really understands, but certainly not a democratic state. Democracy does not mean majority rule. It means protection of minorities . controversial initiative. The amendment to the legislation on citizenship approved in the cabinet, and now be sent to Knesset for its final adoption, requiring immigrants to swear allegiance not simply to the state of Israel, but the state of Israel as a Jewish and democratic state ". carved by Justice Minister Ya'akov Ne'eman, the new formula is the tribute paid to the right of Avigdor Lieberman : "No loyalty, no citizenship , was the pillar of his campaign. But the amendment, which in the original proposal also included the word "Zionist" has critical cross inflamed. Benjamin Netanyahu first would have preferred an explicit reference to Israel as the Jewish state that guarantees full equality to all citizens ": not to stem the criticism of the Arab minority, today the eighteen percent of the population, which has branded the amendment as "racist and fascist in the world no state wants its citizens by adhering to an ideology" said Azmi Bishara - but rather to counter the challenge of that right .
Although Eli Yishal , in fact, Interior Minister, has already declared his willingness to deprive of citizenship those who do not demonstrate sufficient loyalty to the state , referring in particular to Hanin Zoabi, Arab MP on board the Freedom Flotilla , "this amendment will damage the ' Israel's image, "he argued Tzipi Livni, leader of Kadima. "Just as a Jewish state," said Dan Meridor , Intelligence Minister Likud "We have a moral obligation to treat non-Jews as Jews we would have liked to be treated." Similar the position of President the Knesset, Reuven Rivlin : "All of our Basic Law defines this state as a Jewish and democratic state. The legitimacy of the founding of a Jewish state in Eretz Israel was recognized by our admission to the United Nations, we have already won our historic battle. This amendment is only a weapon for our enemies. "
is divided, inevitably, also left. Ehud Barak, Defense Minister and Labor Secretary , he added a further clarification: an oath to Israel as a Jewish and democratic state, but "in the spirit of Declaration of Independence " , In defense, he argued, a liberal interpretation of the new standard. But "the only effect of this law will radicalize Arabs", he answered the fellow party Avishay Braverman , Minister for Minorities' remark that does not belong to the state asking their loyalty. And it is terrible, for descendants of Jews who paid with the Holocaust, the prosecution was not enough German, French, English. The charge of disloyalty to the states for which they were citizens .
A definition undefined. To those who call for maintaining a more formal oath , such as that introduced by Ben Gurion, still in force in the army - "loyalty to the state of Israel, its laws and its authorities" - the political scientist Shlomo Avineri argues that all Western democracies require immigrants to swear an oath of a substantial nature : adherence to the principles underlying that their legal systems. In Britain, the commitment is to respect the rights, freedoms and democratic values, the United States, to respect the constitution. In fact, says the lawyer Ze'ev Segal , the new amendment does not revolutionize the current oath of loyalty "to the state of Israel" because in its Declaration of Independence and its Basic Laws Israel is already qualified, just as "Jewish and democratic state" .
However, he says, an explicit reference to the Declaration of Independence, as proposed by Ehud Barak, has the merit of the amendment but noted that incentives to forget: that in the Declaration of Independence, the definition of Israel as a state Jewish and democratic state is followed by the emergence of the principle of equality and the full and effective inclusion of non-Jewish citizens in the political and social life . Because the problem, as reported by Gideon Levy, is that unlike the concept of a democratic state, the notion of a Jewish state has no clear meaning : and it is this uncertainty, together with the fragility of the principle of equality in ' constitutional settlement of Israel - the Declaration of Independence it omits the essential equality for the Palestinian issue: that between nationalities - to result in de facto discrimination of non-Jews.
The reason it is so difficult for outside observers, perceive the true nature of the order Israeli legal reality is that, formally, all citizens are equal before the law in effect: we are not so much discrimination against non-Jews, because, more subtle, discrimination in favor of the Jews. The case in point is the right of ownership . The expropriation of private land by the state is allowed for example for reasons of rationalization and productivity of agriculture, or for reasons of security and in general, according to the Land Acquisition for Public Purposes Ordinance , "in 'public interest', but the identification of this interest public exclusive jurisdiction of the executive , subject to review by the judiciary . In any case, the Supreme Court has further clarified , the meaning of "public interest" could only be determined by the Basic Laws - specifically, the Basic Law: Human Dignity and Liberty , which includes the right of property: and that in its eighth section authorizes all the restrictions laid down " by a law befitting the values \u200b\u200bof the State of Israel .
The value of ' Jewishness of the state, in other words, legitimate restrictions of individual rights . The interpretation of the Supreme Court leaves no room for doubt: "the doctrine of human rights sees the individual not as an island, but as part of a company with national targets. And Israel is different from other countries is not only a democratic state, but also a Jewish state , and this characteristic is called the principle to shift the balance between the irreconcilable demands. "
The threat of peace. The new wording of the oath of loyalty would actually be problematic for Many Jewish citizens: by ultra-Orthodox believe that the establishment of Israel is the prerogative of the Messiah religious settlers which disputes the adjective "democratic" on behalf of the priorities of the rules of ' halakah , compared to the old rules, to the many immigrants, particularly Russians, motivated mainly by economic reasons unrelated to Zionism - and, of course, secular elite of Tel Aviv. "Even Mordechai Vanunu : ended up in prison, but has not been deprived of citizenship . Because citizenship is not a reward or a punishment for his loyalty to the state, "said the lawyer Yedidia Stern .
" This amendment is obvious, affects Arab citizens in the first instance, our so-called fifth column: non-Jewish immigrants are a large part of their families, Palestinian Territories . But the fear for them is actually psychological projection of an internal threat. Compared to the Arabs, we are all loyal. Fear is our lowest common denominator: the only possible in the absence of a shared vision of our identity as Jews in Israel. "In the same vein, the journalist Yacov Ben Efrat .
"It's not just Arabs and Jews here, but Jews and Jews. We are a society shattered . The funds are distributed in a profoundly unequal: the old rift between the Ashkenazi and Sephardic, are weld imbalances now own all the countries on which strikes globalization. The debate on the Jewish character of Israel has the sole purpose of perpetuating a false solidarity between Jews . But perhaps, above all, adds the philosopher Berel Lang , " the goal of making it impossible for Palestinian recognition of Israel ".
The amendment was approved Sunday fact read primarily as the price for the agreement of Lieberman moratorium on further expansion of settlements : price, that is, to refloat the negotiations. In fact, Netanyahu is back after a few hours to insist, as a condition for their continuation on recognition of the Jewish nature of Israel . A request unprecedented in international law - nothing like it was supposed to his time, from Egypt and Jordan. "Repeats the trap of Camp David," says Mustafa Barghouthi: "impose constraints unacceptable, to force the responsibility of the failure to agree - at the time, he said, had been offered to Arafat even Jerusalem capital and instead, to study the maps, it was Abu Dis: not Jerusalem, but its landfill .
All this, however, seems to have escaped to the left. " Instead of deconstructing the very idea of \u200b\u200bloyalty , the antithesis of liberal values \u200b\u200bof quell'Occidente who claim to belong, we follow the right on his own ground, "notes bitterly the historian Ilan Pappe : " Lieberman did not bother me because it is an extremist, but on the contrary: it represents the average Israeli ". While the protest gathering convened in Tel Aviv only a hundred intellectuals, the debate focused on the development of regulated alternative - by loyalty "to the legitimacy of the state of Israel" loyalty "to the law," no one has denied its contribution. " But the dominant message now is that the Palestinians will not recognize the state of Israel : a state that we already recognized twenty years ago in Oslo, "says Mustafa Barghouthi. The immediate reaction of Mahmoud Abbas is was clear: "the issue of Jewishness of Israel, its nature, does not apply to international negotiations" , closed.
front of the steadfastness of the U.S. State Department, however, who was awaiting an official response to the Israeli request, Yasser Abed Rabbo has re-launched a surprise: "We are ready to recognize Israel in an hour, however, should be defined - even the Chinese state, if you like. The only thing we ask is a map with its precise boundaries, along the lines of 1967 . It is not too difficult to interpret the bounce of the statements: no one has confidence in these negotiations - Brought on the other hand for reasons of domestic politics Barack Obama, at a time instead in which both the Palestinians and the Israelis are particularly fragmented and anyone on either side of the Wall 's authority and force to ensure the observance of any agreement : the only goal for everyone is on n appear responsible for the failure.
Meanwhile, the other side. While in Israel we were discussing an oath of loyalty, the Palestinian Authority approved the new history textbooks for high schools , which now flank the reconstruction Nakbah also the Zionist version of 1948 - that is, as a war of defense and independence . Opera in the hands of most Israelis and Palestinians together intellectuals, new books have been banned by the ministry of education instead of Tel Aviv - because alongside the reconstruction of the War of Independence including the Arabic version of 1948. Perhaps Mahmoud Abbas is to be entitled to impose as a condition for continuing the negotiations, the recognition of Palestine.
Source: http://it.peacereporter.net
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