Caption this.
Posted on 07/09/2002 9:58:57 AM PDT by Asmodeus
JERUSALEM (AP) - The Israeli government has approved a proposal that would prevent Arab citizens of Israel from purchasing land in some rural communities, effectively restricting them to Jewish residents.
The plan must still clear several hurdles in parliament, though it is considered likely to win approval.
Meanwhile, liberal and moderate Israelis vowed Monday to fight the proposal, saying it amounts to discrimination.
Prime Minister Ariel Sharon's coalition government adopted the plan at a Cabinet meeting Sunday, where it was backed by right-wing and religious parties.
Israeli Foreign Minister Shimon Peres said the Labor party "will fight with all its power against the racist decision."
Dan Meridor, a minister who formerly belonged to Sharon's right-wing Likud party but has since moved to the political center, said if the law is passed it would be seen by Israel's enemies as proof that Zionism is racism, a charge made by some in the Arab and Muslim world.
"Israel is the state of the Jewish people, but because it is a Jewish state it must not practice against its non-Jewish citizens the kind of discrimination to which Jews were subjected in the diaspora," Meridor told Israel Radio.
Attorney General Elyakim Rubinstein strongly advised the Cabinet not to adopt the proposal on the grounds that it would deepen the rift between Jewish and Arab citizens of Israel, his spokesman Yaakov Galanty said.
Arabs make up more than 1 million of Israel's 6.5 million citizens. Most Arabs and Jews live in separate communities although the cities of Jerusalem, Haifa and Acre are mixed. Many Arabs from Nazareth have rented or bought apartments in the neighboring Upper Nazareth unhindered, even though the government intended it to be a Jewish town.
However, anyone wishing to move into a rural area that the government has designated as a "community settlement," has to be accepted by a reception committee.
The Cabinet decision goes against a Supreme Court ruling in March 2000 that held that Adel Qaadan, an Israeli Arab, must be allowed to build his home in the Jewish community settlement of Katzir. He has been repeatedly rejected.
That court decision overturned a 52-year-old state policy of restricting land sales to Arabs while building towns and villages for Jews all over the country.
Despite the court ruling two years ago, Qaadan and his family have continued to be turned down when making applications to lease land in Katzir. Qaadan accused the local authority in Katzir of contempt of court.
"Now they (the Cabinet ministers) have fanned the flames with this wretched decision — it is discrimination pure and simple," Qaadan told Israel Radio.
However, Education Minister Limor Livnat, who submitted the proposal to the Cabinet, said all Israeli governments had supported the idea of achieving a Jewish majority in Galilee, where Katzir is located.
Livnat, who belongs to the Likud party, said Katzir was founded for reasons of national security, with the express purpose of having a Jewish community in a predominantly Arab area, close to the border with the West Bank.
The chairman of the local authority in Katzir, Dubi Sandrov, said that following the Supreme Court ruling two years ago, the Israeli Islamic movement has been encouraging Arabs to apply to move to Katzir.
He said the Israel Lands Administration offers to lease plots for homes in Arab towns for as little as $1,000. Some Arabs are prepared to pay $80,000 for a plot in Katzir. Other Arabs offer to buy homes from Jewish residents in Katzir for double the going rate or more, he said.
"There are (Arab) political elements that are trying to push the Jewish population out," he said.
However some Israeli Arabs are attracted to Jewish areas because the schools, infrastructure and services are much better than in the underfunded Arab towns.
Qaadan said he is willing to send his children to Jewish schools where the language of instruction is Hebrew, not Arabic. "My dream is to live as an equal among equals," he said.
If the Cabinet proposal is submitted to parliament it will probably pass because the right wing and religious parties have a solid majority. However, the process of legislation could be long, and the legality of the Cabinet decision may also be challenged in the Supreme Court.
The case does not involve the more than 3 million Palestinians who live in the West Bank and the Gaza Strip and do not have Israeli citizenship.
November 2nd, 1917
Dear Lord Rothschild,
I have much pleasure in conveying to you, on behalf of His Majesty's Government, the following declaration of sympathy with Jewish Zionist aspirations which has been submitted to, and approved by, the Cabinet.
"His Majesty's Government view with favour the establishment in Palestine of a national home for the Jewish people, and will use their best endeavours to facilitate the achievement of this object, it being clearly understood that nothing shall be done which may prejudice the civil and religious rights of existing non-Jewish communities in Palestine, or the rights and political status enjoyed by Jews in any other country."
I should be grateful if you would bring this declaration to the knowledge of the Zionist Federation.
Yours sincerely,
Arthur James Balfour
So, it's not quite racial discrimination then, is it? It's more like the Co-Ops in Manhattan. You have to be approved by the board before you can buy a place in the building. It could be used by the board to a racist effect, but I have a suspicion that this is also motivated by the desires of some Orthodox communities to keep non-Orthodox Jews out, so as to not have to witness desecration of the Sabbath, pork chop BBQ's and the like.
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On the other hand, the "Zionism is racism" UN Resolution will be quickly passed again.
If you wish to deny basic rights of citizenship to some of your tax-paying citizens based solely on their ethnic background, it's impossible to defend that practice as not being racist and discriminatory. That's the objective truth.
It may still be justified on other grounds; I don't know. It's hard to argue that Zimbabwe is better off today since White rule was abolished. What I am suggesting is that Israel should realize that this will be perceived as a major step toward apartheid as government policy, and a step backward from full democracy.
I don't know where you're seeing anything even remotely suggesting that in my posts. I'm insisting only that Israel faces a dilemma, with no perfect solution.
The principles to be sacrificed here are those which Israel has previously endorsed, regardless of their decision.
I think it would be better if Israel had no arab citizens at all. But, figuring out how to deal with the ones they have, while maintaining the character of a Jewish state, and remaining a modern democracy, is a difficult challenge.
The democratic principle of equality is certainly something valuable, but it is not the only political value. It is certainly not the most important political value during times of war. And I think that part of the problem is that the word "equality" has been so radicalized that questions concerning its meaning have become nearly impossible.
Would be a shame to see Sharon replaced by Arafat as the President of Israel because the a-rab voters outnumbered the Israelis...
Such people are "racially" indistiguishable from Arabs.
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