topic by
shame
7/9/2002 (16:48) |
|
Israeli Cabinet backs Jewish-only towns
Measure would restrict Arab ownership
Tracy Wilkinson, Los Angeles Times Tuesday, July 9, 2002
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Jerusalem -- Touching off a divisive national debate, Prime Minister Ariel Sharon's Cabinet has endorsed a proposed law that would allow Jews to bar Arab citizens of Israel from living or purchasing homes in many Israeli communities.
The attempt to legalize 'Jews-only' towns was swiftly criticized by numerous Israeli politicians and human rights groups, who said it is a discriminatory and racist proposal. Supporters praised the law for protecting what they called the essence of Zionism.
The debate goes to the heart of Israel's existential contradiction: How can it be both a Jewish state and a democratic state?
'Israel is the state of the Jewish people,' Cabinet Minister Dan Meridor, who opposed the law, said, '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.'
Drafted by members of an ultranationalist right-wing party, the proposed law comes in response to a landmark decision by the Israeli Supreme Court in March 2000 that said Arab citizens were entitled to use state-owned land. The court ruled on a petition from Adel Kaadan, an Israeli Arab who had been turned down repeatedly in his efforts to buy a home in an all-Jewish community in the Galilee region of northern Israel.
VOW TO FIGHT THE MEASURE
Right-wing and religious parties in Sharon's coalition endorsed the proposed law by a 17-2 vote in a closed Cabinet session on Sunday, with most members from the center-left Labor Party absent. When it was publicized Monday,
opponents of the measure immediately condemned the decision and pledged to reject it.
Foreign Minister Shimon Peres said his Labor Party would 'fight with all its power against the racist decision' -- even if it means quitting the government.
The bill still faces several legal hurdles in the Israeli parliament, or Knesset, before it can become law.
Assigning land for Jewish-only housing opens Israel to criticism at a time its reputation in the Arab and Muslim world is especially low because of Israel's war with the Palestinians, Meridor said.
Education Minister Limor Livnat, a member of Sharon's Likud Party and the legislation's main proponent in the Cabinet, said it is a mistake to see the decision as racist. Instead, it would protect Israeli security by helping to ensure a Jewish majority in the heavily Arab Galilee region, she said.
'This does not stem at all from discrimination, rather from the main basis of Zionism -- the return of the Jewish people to its land,' Livnat said.
'If Zionism is racism, then we are all in trouble,' Communications Minister Reuven Rivlin, also of Likud, told Israeli radio.
'ONLY ONE JEWISH STATE'
'We are trying to convince the whole world there is no gap between Judaism and democracy, but when there is a conflict, everyone has to remember there is only one Jewish state. We have to keep it secure (for its) future. . . . This is the state for the Jewish people, not the state for all its citizens. That has to be obvious.'
Israeli Attorney General Eli-
yakim Rubinstein opposed the legislation, saying it is unnecessary and would further strain Jewish-Arab relations in Israel.
About 1 million Arabs live inside Israel and hold Israeli citizenship, roughly 20 percent of the state's population. They have long complained that predominantly Arab areas are given inferior state services, their schools are underfinanced, and their roads are unrepaired.
Kaadan, the original plaintiff, works as an emergency room nurse in a hospital in the Israeli city of Hadera. He was eager to escape the poverty and neglect of his Israeli Arab hometown, Baqa al Gharbiya, where his three daughters had to walk in streets filled with sewage and attend a school contaminated with asbestos.
But the governing board of nearby Katzir, a town of manicured lawns and neat fences, repeatedly rejected Kaadan's application to purchase a plot.
SUCCESSFUL SUIT
With the help of the Association for Civil Rights in Israel, Kaadan sued in 1995. Five years later, the high court ruled in Kaadan's favor, citing Israel's declaration of independence, which enshrines social and political equality regardless of religion, and declaring that the state cannot discriminate between Jew and Arab in the allocation of land. Most nonurban land is distributed by the government or government-designated agencies; the ruling does not apply to the sale of private property in most cities.
With its ruling, the court had challenged the very land-distribution policy on which the Jewish state was founded more than half a century ago.
The right, led by Knesset member Haim Druckman of the National Religious Party, quickly vowed to write a law that would bypass the ruling.
Despite the legal victory, Kaadan and his family have still not been allowed to move to Katzir. Speaking Monday in reaction to the Cabinet's endorsement of the law, Kaadan was bitterly disappointed and accused the ministers of forgetting the lessons of equality and coexistence espoused by the founders of Zionism.
'Even (Theodore) Herzl didn't mind having an Arab minister,' Kaadan said. 'Now, we have this Knesset member who doesn't want an Arab to live in a community. Does he want to create a new apartheid?'
· Printer-friendly version
· Email this article to a friend
HOTELS
Expd Resident Mgmt Team
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
COMPUTER
PEOPLESOFT PROJECT MGR
CSU Bakersfield
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
BANKING
Branch CS - (Floater)
Sterling Bank&Trust
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
MEDICAL
Asst Director of Technology
UC Davis
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
ENGINEERING
Electrical Plant Maint Engineer
Steelscape
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
DENTAL
ASSISTANT P/T FUN STAFF !
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
DENTAL
ASSISTANT for Low Stress SSF office
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
MEDICAL
Billing Person for Surgical Practice
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
TAX MANAGER
San Francisco Corporate Office
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
BUSINESS
RISK MANAGER San Francisco
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
NEWSPAPER
Seeking qualified Applicants
SF Chronicle
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
COMMUNITY RELAT'NS
Progressive Non-profit
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
FINANCIAL MANAGER
CONSTRUCTION FIRM
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
SALES COORDINATOR
COMMERCIAL PRINTING
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
TEACHERS
Garfield Charter School, a performin
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
REAL
Estate Agents, Full 6% commission. W
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
SECRETARY
Office Automation) $33,526.00 - 43,5
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
EDUCATION
DYNAMIC ADMINISTRATOR Principal, Gal
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
NURSING
RNs, LVNs & MEDICAL ASSISTANTS Staff
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
SALES
Advertising East Bay Express and The
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
SPEECH
PATHOLOGISTS $37.84 HOURLY Laguna Ho
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
MARKETING/ACCNT
Mrktg & Acct Supvr Singapore Airline
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
HOTEL
Front Office Mgr. The Novato Oaks In
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
SOCIAL SERVICE
North Bay Regional
North Bay Regional
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
COMPUTER
SENIOR NETWORK ARCHITECT Great oppor
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
About Top Jobs
View All Top Jobs
10/16/2001 - Israel at odds over U.S. war.
02/04/2001 - Israel at Crossroads in Vote.
12/10/2000 - Barak Quits, Pushing Vote Up.
03/09/2000 - Israeli Court Says Arabs Can Live In Jewish Areas.
more related articles...
|
|