ONE MORE ZIONIST ADMISSION THAT THE STATE OF ISRAEL IS AN APARTHEID STATE
by Benjamin Merhav
The following article was downloaded from Haaretz (English), a zionist daily in Israel. The author of the article too is a zionist , like therest of Haaretz correspondents. They see themselves as belonging to the 'progressive zionists' (the Chomsky type zionists) who purport tore form zionism and to humanise the racist-fascist regime of Israel.
Admissions of the existing apartheid regime in Israel have been rare in Israel,because they are not exactly welcome by the zionist settlers society,but Haaretz did publish 2-3 such articles over the past 20 years or so.However, the author of the article below does not seem to be aware of those admissions in the past, as the very title of the article,Citizenship law makes Israel an apartheid state , suggests. As if without that law there would be no apartheid regime of Israel, which is crap. Thezionist apartheid regime of Israel came into being the same time as thestate did, and also the same time as the apartheid regime of SouthAfrica , its sister and allied regime, had began.
http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/996697.html
The government`s decision last week to extend the validity of the Citizenship Law (Temporary Order), for another year, is evidence that the legal barriers preventing severe discrimination against Israel`sArab citizens and harm to their civil rights have been removed.
This extension is the eighth since the law was first passed in 2003, and it shows just how naive Justice Edmond Levy`s position was when he refused to join in the 2006 decision by five judges from the High Court ofJustice, who stated that the law was unconstitutional, that itcontravened the Basic Law on Human Dignity and Freedom, and that itmust be removed from the law books. Levy explained his refusal by saying that he saw no need to intervene because only two months remained until the law expired. However, at the end of the two months,the law was extended by a year, and now they want to extend it for yet another year.
Had Levy known that the law`s limited validity was nothing but a deception aimed at preparing a discriminatory and unconstitutional law, there is no doubt he would have joined the five justices` majority opinion that it was unconstitutional and should be removed. We must hope that the High Court of Justice, when it rules onthe new petition submitted against the law after it was extended in2006, will take into account that the term `temporary provision,` whichboth the government and Knesset take pains to stress, is a deception.We are talking about, in effect, a permanent law.
The law stipulates that the interior minister does not have the authority to approve residence in Israel for a resident of Judea and Samaria(unless, of course, they are Jews - that is, settlers). This is so even regarding family reunions, meaning marriage, when it comes to Palestinian spouses who are younger than 35 (for men) or 25 (forwomen). In effect, the law prevents young Israeli citizens frommarrying the spouse of their choice and living with this spouse in Israel, if the spouse is a Palestinian from Judea and Samaria.
It is obvious that this has barely any effect on the right of young Israeli Jews to live in their country with the spouse of their choice,because there are hardly any marriages between Israeli Jews and Palestinians from Judea and Samaria. On the other hand, these Palestinians constitute Israeli Arabs` natural pool for choosing aspouse. For this reason, the law severely discriminates when comparingthe rights of young Israeli Jewish citizens and young Israeli Arab citizens.
When the law was first passed in 2003, supposedly as a temporary one-year measure, it was accompanied by security reasoning -the risk of implanting terrorists in Israel via marriage. The reasoning was faulty even at that time: Every Palestinian who wishes to enterIsrael must be addressed individually. It is the Shin Bet security service`s task to do this and thus carry out its mission - protecting the security of Israel`s citizens such that the country remains democratic, with equal rights for all. However, as the years go by, it becomes clear that the security argument and the term `temporary measure` are merely a deception aimed at `koshering` discriminatory legislation for demographic reasons.
The claim that there are indications of an apartheid state in Israel is widely heard in the Western world. The word apartheid is catchy and understood in of the world, which makes it useful to send a message that were sent and which we claim has no connection with reality in Israel.However, we do not have to identify the characteristics of South African apartheid in the civil rights discrimination in Israel in order to call Israel an apartheid state. The amendment to the Citizenship Law is exactly the kind of practice that leads to the use of such a term,and it is best that we not try to evade the truth: Its existence in the law books turns Israel into an apartheid state.
The government decided to add the Gaza Strip to the list of countries for which the interior minister does not have the prerogative to approve residence in Israel on the grounds of family reunions, regardless of age. Both the list and the new addition are superfluous and harmful. Since Hamas gained control, no one enters or leaves Gaza anyway, and the new restriction harms couples` cases from the time when there was passage between Israel and Gaza.
The following article was downloaded from Haaretz (English), a zionist daily in Israel. The author of the article too is a zionist , like therest of Haaretz correspondents. They see themselves as belonging to the 'progressive zionists' (the Chomsky type zionists) who purport tore form zionism and to humanise the racist-fascist regime of Israel.
Admissions of the existing apartheid regime in Israel have been rare in Israel,because they are not exactly welcome by the zionist settlers society,but Haaretz did publish 2-3 such articles over the past 20 years or so.However, the author of the article below does not seem to be aware of those admissions in the past, as the very title of the article,Citizenship law makes Israel an apartheid state , suggests. As if without that law there would be no apartheid regime of Israel, which is crap. Thezionist apartheid regime of Israel came into being the same time as thestate did, and also the same time as the apartheid regime of SouthAfrica , its sister and allied regime, had began.
http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/996697.html
| Citizenship law makes Israel an apartheid state By Amos Schocken | |
This extension is the eighth since the law was first passed in 2003, and it shows just how naive Justice Edmond Levy`s position was when he refused to join in the 2006 decision by five judges from the High Court ofJustice, who stated that the law was unconstitutional, that itcontravened the Basic Law on Human Dignity and Freedom, and that itmust be removed from the law books. Levy explained his refusal by saying that he saw no need to intervene because only two months remained until the law expired. However, at the end of the two months,the law was extended by a year, and now they want to extend it for yet another year.
Had Levy known that the law`s limited validity was nothing but a deception aimed at preparing a discriminatory and unconstitutional law, there is no doubt he would have joined the five justices` majority opinion that it was unconstitutional and should be removed. We must hope that the High Court of Justice, when it rules onthe new petition submitted against the law after it was extended in2006, will take into account that the term `temporary provision,` whichboth the government and Knesset take pains to stress, is a deception.We are talking about, in effect, a permanent law.
The law stipulates that the interior minister does not have the authority to approve residence in Israel for a resident of Judea and Samaria(unless, of course, they are Jews - that is, settlers). This is so even regarding family reunions, meaning marriage, when it comes to Palestinian spouses who are younger than 35 (for men) or 25 (forwomen). In effect, the law prevents young Israeli citizens frommarrying the spouse of their choice and living with this spouse in Israel, if the spouse is a Palestinian from Judea and Samaria.
It is obvious that this has barely any effect on the right of young Israeli Jews to live in their country with the spouse of their choice,because there are hardly any marriages between Israeli Jews and Palestinians from Judea and Samaria. On the other hand, these Palestinians constitute Israeli Arabs` natural pool for choosing aspouse. For this reason, the law severely discriminates when comparingthe rights of young Israeli Jewish citizens and young Israeli Arab citizens.
When the law was first passed in 2003, supposedly as a temporary one-year measure, it was accompanied by security reasoning -the risk of implanting terrorists in Israel via marriage. The reasoning was faulty even at that time: Every Palestinian who wishes to enterIsrael must be addressed individually. It is the Shin Bet security service`s task to do this and thus carry out its mission - protecting the security of Israel`s citizens such that the country remains democratic, with equal rights for all. However, as the years go by, it becomes clear that the security argument and the term `temporary measure` are merely a deception aimed at `koshering` discriminatory legislation for demographic reasons.
The claim that there are indications of an apartheid state in Israel is widely heard in the Western world. The word apartheid is catchy and understood in of the world, which makes it useful to send a message that were sent and which we claim has no connection with reality in Israel.However, we do not have to identify the characteristics of South African apartheid in the civil rights discrimination in Israel in order to call Israel an apartheid state. The amendment to the Citizenship Law is exactly the kind of practice that leads to the use of such a term,and it is best that we not try to evade the truth: Its existence in the law books turns Israel into an apartheid state.
The government decided to add the Gaza Strip to the list of countries for which the interior minister does not have the prerogative to approve residence in Israel on the grounds of family reunions, regardless of age. Both the list and the new addition are superfluous and harmful. Since Hamas gained control, no one enters or leaves Gaza anyway, and the new restriction harms couples` cases from the time when there was passage between Israel and Gaza.
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