Israel adopts divisive Nation-state law that makes Palestinians second-class citizens

Arab MKs protest against Nation Sate Law in Knesset

Reuters reports, “Israel passed a law on Thursday to declare that only Jews have the right of self-determination in the country, something members of the Arab minority called racist and verging on apartheid. The “nation-state” law, backed by the right-wing government, passed by a vote of 62-55 and two abstentions in the 120-member parliament after months of political argument. Some Arab lawmakers shouted and ripped up papers after the vote.

“The bill also strips Arabic of its designation as an official language alongside Hebrew, downgrading it to a “special status” that enables its continued use within Israeli institutions. Israel’s Arabs number some 1.8 million, about 20 percent of the 9 million population.” (read more . . .)

Israeli soldiers watch Palestinian women walk towards Qalandiya checkpoint

Edo Konrad writes in +972, “The Israeli parliament passed the “Jewish Nation-State Law” in the early hours of Thursday morning, defining Israel as the exclusive nation-state of the Jewish people and demoting the official status of Arabic.  Almost immediately, Palestinian politicians and rights groups began speaking of the legislation in the starkest of terms.”

“PLO Secretary General Saeb Erekat said the law “turns a ‘de-facto’ Apartheid regime into a ‘de-jure’ reality for all of historic Palestine. Hassan Jabareen, head of the Adalah, the Legal Center for Arab Minority Rights in Israel, said the law ‘features key elements of apartheid’ and that by passing it, Israel has ‘made discrimination a constitutional value and has professed its commitment to favoring Jewish supremacy as the bedrock of its institutions.’”

whites-only beach in Apartheid South Africa in 1970

“According to Adalah attorney Fady Khoury, the legislation entrenches the identity of the State of Israel as a state for the Jewish people, turning them into the sovereign while excluding the Palestinian population from the same definition of sovereignty. ‘The law itself does not mention the word democracy even once,’ Khoury explained. ‘Psychologically, it will have a huge impact on Israelis when they are called to determine what it or isn’t democratic.’

“+972 Magazine spoke with Khoury to better understand the apartheid comparison, and why the law is so problematic in general. The following interview has been edited for length and flow.  (read more…)