Israeli president criticises divisive Jewish nation-state bill
Israel's president has said a bill promoted by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu that would anchor in law the status of Israel as the nation-state of the Jewish people runs counter to its founding fathers' vision of equality for Arab citizens.
The bill comes at a time of high tensions in Israel, the occupied West Bank and Jerusalem, where a dispute over access to a religious site sacred to Jews and Muslims alike has ignited Palestinian streets protests and lethal attacks on Jews.
"The formulators of the (Israeli) Declaration of Independence, with much wisdom, insisted the Arab communities in Israel, as well as other groups, should not feel as the Jews had felt in exile," President Reuven Rivlin said in a speech on Tuesday.
The 1948 declaration, while proclaiming the creation of a Jewish state, also emphasised its democratic nature and promised "complete equality" of social, religious and cultural rights for all, said Rivlin, whose office is mainly ceremonial.
http://uk.reuters.com/article/2014/11/26/uk-mideast-israel-president-idUKKCN0JA0VO20141126
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