Israel/Palestine
Related: About this forumNew Law Dividing Christian, Muslim Arabs Legalizes Inequality
srael ratified a new law on Monday that legally distinguishes between Muslim and Christian citizens of the state, Haaretz reported. The bill, which easily passed by a 31-6 vote in its third and final reading, recognizes the Christian Arab population as a separate (though not national) minority for the first time.
The law, which expands the Advisory Committee for Equal Opportunity in the Employment Commission by adding to it a separate Christian representative, was marketed as a way to better integrate Christians into the Israeli workforce. However, in practice, it is being carried out at the blatant expense of Muslim citizens. There are approximately 160,000 Christians living in Israel.
According to the bill’s sponsor, Likud MK Yariv Levin, Christians are “our natural allies, a counterbalance against the Muslims who want to destroy the state from within.” Levin, an outspoken opponent of the establishment of a Palestinian state (like other fellow MKs in Likud and the Jewish Home party) also emphasized that he refuses to call Christian citizens “Arabs.” “I’m being careful about not calling them Arabs because they aren’t Arabs,” he told the Israeli Ma’ariv daily a few weeks ago, despite the fact that the large majority of them are, in fact, Arabs, and many identify as part of the Palestinian nation.
Through the Knesset’s passing of the law, along with Levin’s candid comments, the Israeli government has made two things abundantly clear (if they weren’t already):
1. “Arab” is a bad word, and the Muslim Arab population specifically – the largest minority in the country – is made up of evil citizens intent on destroying the state, and are therefore not eligible to have equal rights.
more...
http://972mag.com/new-law-seeks-to-divide-christian-muslim-arabs/87705/
= new reply since forum marked as read
Highlight:
NoneDon't highlight anything
5 newestHighlight 5 most recent replies
Jefferson23
(30,099 posts)R. Daneel Olivaw
(12,606 posts)Since the inception of Israel, or thereabouts, Palestinians living within Israel were now known as "Arabs." I have always viewed that as a slander, and it it fits with the whole mindset of apartheid in the following ways.
If you take an Irish man or Tibetan woman and confine them in oppression by another group of people do they become less less Irish or Tibetan? Is it just to call them solely Europeans or Asians, even though that is what they are, or do you delegitimize their existence by removing their identity? Do you delegitimize their right to a state by inferring that they are just part of another group?
Can you readily say that the cast off Irish man or Tibetan woman would fit neatly in to any European or Asian country just by removing their main identity?
Now certainly there are areas where language is similar, but have you ever listened to somebody from Mexico, Puerto Rico or Cuba speak? The may all be Hispanic, but don't tell me that their language hasn't grown and varied itself. I would also not demean a Mexican, Puerto Rican or Cuban by removing their heritage just because they lived in the USA. They're all different.
So when I continue to read, and I am not putting you in this category, other posts in I/P delegitimizing Palestinians by removing their identity I often come to the conclusion that I am reading the words of some 18th century bigot.
Jefferson23
(30,099 posts)
sabbat hunter
(6,828 posts)37 votes out of a possible 120 a quorum to pass a bill? not to mention the fact this bill is ridiculous on its face and shouldn't have even been voted on in the first place.
Scootaloo
(25,699 posts)Sailed to victory, in fact.
I guess all those "good people" in the Knesset found it prudent to just sit by and let it happen. You know; teach the Likud Beitinu coalition a harsh lesson by letting them do whatever the fuck they want.
azurnoir
(45,850 posts)there are Tea Party members here in the US that must be green with envy over this bill
Jefferson23
(30,099 posts)By Alex Shams
BETHLEHEM (Ma'an) -- A new law to create a separate "Christian" nationality for Palestinian citizens of Israel successfully passed through the Knesset on Monday with more than three-quarters in favor.
The bill, which creates a distinction from the existing "Arab" nationality, has raised fears among many Palestinians that a renewed push is underway by the state to divide their society along religious lines.
The law's supporters have made clear that the new measure is not merely a legal formality, but instead intends to de-emphasize the Arab identity of Christians by racializing and politicizing existing religious distinctions.
"It's a historic and important step that could balance the State of Israel and connect us to the Christians, and I am careful not to refer to them as Arabs, because they are not Arabs," sponsor Likud MK Yariv Levin said in January, adding that Christians are "our natural allies," unlike Muslims "who want to destroy the state from within."
On Wednesday, PLO executive committee member Hanan Ashrawi condemned the law, calling it an effort to transform the occupation into "an outright religious confrontation," and stressing that Israel is adopting a "policy of the classification of its citizens based on religion or ethnicity" as part of a larger system of "apartheid."
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=676060
azurnoir
(45,850 posts)I wonder though could it have implications for possible future 'security' motivated expulsions as now Israeli Muslims are state enemies?
Jefferson23
(30,099 posts)Jefferson23
(30,099 posts)Abdul Bari Atwan Warns:
Renowned journalist Abdel- Bari Atwan said that US Secretary of State John Kerry's plan is based on the recognition of the "Jewishness of Israel and Jerusalem as its capital city".
According to leaked documents, Kerry's plan clearly compromises the Palestinian refugees' right of return (RoR), Atwan, the London-based Palestinian journalist, said during a seminar organized by Engineers for Palestine and Jerusalem Commission in Amman.
Atwan noted that the "Jewishness of Israel" plan followed the failure of the one-state solution's plan, adding that the plans aims to expel one and a half million Palestinians from the territories occupied in 1948.
Kerry's plan stresses the right of 80% of West Bank settlers to stay in their settlements while retaining their Israeli nationality, he added.
Atwan pointed out that the Israelis are working "to criminalize criticizing the Jewishness of Israel in Arab and western laws through linking it to anti-Semitism."
They are aiming to abolish Arab rights in Palestine particularly the right of return, and to prevent talking about the destruction of Israel and about RoR and resistance, he added.
He pointed to the Arab lack of interest towards the Palestinian cause, saying that boycott of Israel campaigns had diminished.
He linked the Israeli occupation to Palestine with the current events in Iraq, Syria, and Egypt, stressing the need for an Arab firm position towards the escalating attempt to liquidate the Palestinian cause.
For his part, head of the Federation of Arab Engineers (FAE), Abdullah Obeidat, said that US administration and Israeli authorities aim to preoccupy Arab states with their internal problems and disagreements in order to distract Arab attention away from the Palestinian issue.
in full: http://www.aljazeerah.info/News/2014/February/24%20n/Abdul%20Bari%20Atwan%20Warns,%20Kerry%27s%20Plan%20Based%20on%20the%20Recognition%20of%20the%20Jewishness%20of%20Israel,%20Against%20Palestinian%20Right%20of%20Return.htm
Jefferson23
(30,099 posts)Netanyahu confidant MK Tzahi Hanegbi declares to Arutz Sheva that there is no need to be concerned about the US 'framework for peace.'
By Tova Dvorin
First Publish: 2/17/2014, 9:58 PM
MK Tzahi Hanegbi (Likud), who is close to Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu, assured readers in an Arutz Sheva interview Monday that the US's framework for peace - which has not been formally unveiled - has been formulated carefully and will not lead to real political upheaval in Israel.
"I assume that, over the next few weeks, the picture will become clearer," Hanegbi stated. "Both sides will discover what this 'hidden animal,' the US framework, entails."
When asked how much the US framework could affect Israel's own internal politics, Hanegbi brushed concerns over a floundering coalition aside.
"According to the statements I am hearing, the framework is not meant to really shake us," he said. "This is a document which does not obligate either side to anything and is not supposed to go up for a vote in a major forum like the government or the Knesset."
"There are some people, within the Likud and within the coalition, for whom negotiations in their own right create natural tensions," he continued. "If I were their psychological advisor I would tell those people to relax. We stand behind the Prime Minister, who is the most influential person on the political scene, and his stances on the issues are very clear."
http://www.israelnationalnews.com/News/News.aspx/177573#.Uw6N44X535M
azurnoir
(45,850 posts)The Knesset this week enacted a new law that legally distinguishes between Christian and Muslim citizens of Israel regarding employment opportunities. Though the law does not make a significant impact on its own, more bills are expected to be introduced that emphasize the same distinction. The Knesset member behind the bill, Yariv Levin (Likud-Beiteinu), believes that such measures promoting the division of Palestinian citizens of Israel will allow the state to use the Christian community as “a counterweight to the Muslims that want to destroy the country from within.”
The process behind the law’s enactment typifies the absurd and anti-democratic nature of the Israeli government’s treatment of its Palestinian citizens. The law, which was written and endorsed solely by right-wing Jewish parties, was based on MK Levin’s fanciful belief that Christianity, a religious identity, has no compatibility with being Arab, an ethnic-cultural identity. Moreover, despite being an issue that directly affects them, the legislation was allowed to continue without the consent of Palestinian leaders, thinkers or the public – many of whom are Christian – to see if they even agreed to its bizarre premise.
The most striking thing about the law, however, is how blatantly colonial its aims are. It replicates a classic tactic applied by colonial rulers in Africa, the Middle East and other regions to separate local populations based on their sect, ethnicity or other identities. These differentiations were exploited to gain native allies, stir local rivalries for strategic goals, or project the state’s race-based ideology. Britain used it in Iraq, France in Algeria, Belgium in Rwanda, as did the apartheid regime in South Africa, to name a mere few.
..............................................
This strategy to “divide and conquer” Palestinian citizens is not a new phenomenon in Israel, and has in fact been an active policy of the state since 1948 (read Hillel Cohen’s Good Arabs for an introduction). But this is the first time that such a concerted effort has been launched to consolidate this policy into official law. With growing incitement from high-level Israeli officials (see Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman’s and Economy Minister Naftali Bennett’s recent statements), Arab citizens are facing an unprecedented wave of attacks against not only their rights as citizens, but against the very fabric of their identity. Palestinian organizations have correctly condemned the “political, colonial motives” behind the law and warned that they “foreshadow the enactment of more racist bills and policies.”
http://972mag.com/law-dividing-christians-muslims-is-a-classic-colonial-tactic/87800/