Israeli Arab group proposes new 'multi-cultural' constitution
Last update - 01:30 28/02/2007 Israeli Arab group proposes new 'multi-cultural' constitution By Yoav Stern, Haaretz CorrespondentA proposed constitution written by the Israeli Arab advocacy center, Adalah, states that Arab Knesset members will be able to bring about the disqualification of bills that impinge on the rights of Arabs, and classifies the State of Israel as a "bilingual and multicultural" country rather than a Jewish state.
The proposal, entitled "The Democratic Constitution," also calls for majority and minority groups to split control of the government in such a way that will strengthen the Arab minority on issues relating to the character of the state.
Adalah's version of the constitution essentially abolishes the Jewish elements of Israel, but allows the Jewish majority to maintain its character through educational and cultural institutions. The proposal invalidates the Law of Return, which grants automatic citizenship to people with at least one Jewish grandparent, and states that citizenship will be granted to those who come to Israel for humanitarian reasons, regardless of their religion.
The document states that the "internal refugees" Arab residents and their descendants expelled in 1948 and whose number is estimated at about a quarter of today's Israeli Arab citizens will return to the area where they used to live and receive compensation. The introduction to the proposed constitution demands that Israel recognize its responsibility for the "historical injustices that it caused the Palestinian nation in its entirety," withdraw from the territories and recognize the Palestinian people's right to self-determination. The proposal sets the state's borders along the 1967 cease-fire lines.The proposed constitution grants citizenship to all descendants of Israeli citizens, whether they were born here or abroad, as well as to all spouses of Israeli citizens thereby undermining Israeli efforts to limit marriages between Israeli Arabs and Palestinians living in the territories.
Instead of dealing with the issue of who is a Jew, says Adalah, the proposal deals with the issue of who is a citizen.
Adalah's constitution is the first one proposed by an Arab institution, though there have been many proposed by various Jewish ones. Adalah chairman Prof. Marwan Dwairy said the other proposals are not based on democratic values.
"They relate to Arab citizens like foreigners in this homeland, in which history, memory and collective rights are the legacy of Jews alone," he wrote.
Adalah hopes that its proposal will spur public discourse on the legal and cultural standing of Israeli Arabs.
"If this 'Democratic Constitution' succeeds in highlighting the large gaps that exist between it and the other proposals, and generates dialogue and topical public discussion on the nature of the freedoms and rights in the this country, we will see it as an important step," wrote Dwairy.
According to the proposed constitution, all assets of the Waqf (the Muslim religious trust) that were expropriated after 1948 and all assets seized by the state from Arabs will be returned to their original owners, who will also receive compensation for the period of expropriation. The state must also immediately recognize all unrecognized Arab villages, the proposal states.
The document does not state what the symbols of the country should be, but says that they will be determined either by a Knesset committee, half of whose members will be Arab, or by agreement of 75 percent of Arab MKs.
All official publications, court rulings and media reports will be in both Hebrew and Arabic, according to Adalah. The proposal states that every cultural group, whether religious or ethnic, will be able to run their own institutions, and that national minorities can choose their own representative body, at the state's expense.
The proposed constitution grants the judicial system the authority to overturn any laws that contradict the constitution.
Adalah says that many of its sections are based on international declarations of human rights, and has consulted with legal experts from around the world, including some who were involved in South Africa's changeover from an apartheid state to a democratic one.
As I stated several years ago I am against the security wall that then Prime Minister Sharon started building.
I wrote then that the wall would become an issue that the Arabs would build on to show how bad Israel had become, that we were cutting families in two and introducing a seperation or an apartied between peoplesand that Arabs are second class citizens.
We must remember that under the Oslo Accords, Israel even if we were to create a Palestinian State would still "owe" the Palestinians the right to come into Israel to work since the Palestinian leadership will never be able to build what the Jewish leadership built in Israel over almost 100 years of suffering and building.
Israeli leaders are on a path that will bring about the destruction of the Jewish State.
The problem in in the modern era the west has no place in their set of ideals, for a Jewish State.
The west today can't accept the idea of a State exclusive for one group of people, with Israel identified as a Jewish State the cry will be what about the poor Arabs. How can an Arab stand and sing the national anthem Hatikva that speaks of the Jewish souls longing for a Jewish state?
The answer is that most of the Israeli Arabs really can't stand and sing Hatikva with pride, but they have exchanged national desire for a good life for them and their children.
Tthe majority of Israeli Arabs have reached a point of wanting to live in Israel for the greater quality of life that living here offers them, however their is a sizable part of the Israeli Arab community that seeks the destruction of the Jewish State, but wants Israel to remain.
What they fail to understand that by destroying the Jewishness of the State of Israel they will in the end destroy what they have and what they want to keep, the higher standard of living in a free society that no Arab country can offer them.
If the Arabs that seek the changes above are successful then I will no longer support Israel and will wash my hands of the place and so will many other Israeli's.
I do not support the fact that for the first time in the history Israel has an Arab cabinet minister for this has along with the wall opened Pandora's box. We now have an Arab minister so why not have an Arab Minister of Internal Security or Defense Minister or for that matter Prime Minister.
If we are going to be a "modern western" state then their should be no problem with an Arab holding these critical positions but then we will no longer be a Jewish State.
I will not support a modern state called Israel but I will fight and if need be die to keep Israel a Jewish State.
