by David A. Kirshbaum

© Israel Law Resource Center, February, 2007.

***

TABLE OF CONTENTS

• I. INTRODUCTION
  • 1. A Tragic Irony
  • 2. Historic Origin of this Tragic Irony
  • 3. Outline of Legalized Discrimination in Israel
  • 4. Official U.N. Legal Definition of Apartheid

• II. ISRAELI LEGALIZED DISCRIMINATION
  • 1. Land Laws – Confining Arab citizens to small areas of Israel - Ghettoes
  • 2. Immigration & Citizenship Laws
  • 3. Military Veteran Benefits Discrimination
  • 4. Special Government Positions for Zionist Organizations leads to Discrimination in Government Services
  • 5. Inhumane Suppression of Rebellion (up to 1966)
  • 6. Racist Harassment in Daily Life

• III. IS ISRAEL AN APARTHEID STATE?

• IV. CONCLUSIONS

• V. BIBLIOGRAPHY

The European Zionist organizations which started the State of Israel had hoped that the new country they had started would be a special refuge for the Jewish people after suffering years of anti-Semitism, and then finally the unimaginable horrors of the holocaust.

They also hoped that their new country would be an example for the world of democracy and justice.

Thus they hoped for three main characteristics of their new country:

• 1. Safe, secure refuge for Jewish people, with special help for the Jews who arrived there from distant lands.
• 2. That the Jewish people would be a demographic majority in their new country, and thus they could have a democratic system that they would still control.
• 3. That the Jewish people would own all the land in their new country.

Unfortunately, things worked out as they had hoped (except for their country becoming an example of freedom and justice), but with negative results they had not anticipated. Many people believe this happened because the above characteristics of special privilege for one group and democracy are inherently contradictory by definition.

• 1. Special Privileges Unavoidably Leads to Injustice. Because they planned that the new state would provide all sorts of special assistance to the Jewish people who moved there, this meant that their new society would thus inevitably end up containing all sorts of inequalities, which thus inevitably would lead to all sorts of injustices, which the victimized people (non-Jews, but especially the native Arab people) would inevitably, and justifiably, rebel against.
• 2. Minority Dominating a Majority Leads to Legitimate Rebellion. In addition, the Zionists were a minority in the land where they had decided to dominate the new country they had created there. So, in order for them to keep both their democratic system and their unequal society, they realized they had to both kick most of the native people out of their own country (so that they would then be the majority), and also they would have to compromise their democracy (to reduce the power of the Arabs that remained, and the Jews who did not believe in inequality and injustice). This too would inevitably lead to understandable rebellion and disdain across the world.

This conflict between democracy and the need for discriminatory practices is best illustrated by:

• on the one hand - Israel’s Declaration of the Establishment of the State of Israel (1948) declares that:

  "...THE STATE OF ISRAEL … will ensure complete equality of social and political rights to all its inhabitants irrespective of religion, race or sex; it will guarantee freedom of religion, conscience, language, education and culture; it will safeguard the Holy Places of all religions; and it will be faithful to the principles of the Charter of the United Nations." (Laws of the State of Israel, 1948; State of Israel Official Website, 1998)

• but then - the Israeli Supreme Court rules right away in 1948, in Zeev v. Gubernik, that this document cannot be used by the courts to pass judgment on the law-making activities of the Israeli legislature, the Knesset. This is one of many ways the Supreme Court weakens itself so that the Knesset is able to pass laws that legalize discrimination and other civil rights that usually a Supreme Court would not allow to stand, such as ...
• and then - in 1985, the Knesset passed a law amendment inhibiting the free speech of candidates for membership in the Knesset:

  	Basic Law: The Knesset (Amendment 9)(1985)
  Prevention of participation of candidate's list.	"7A. A candidates' list shall not participate in elections to the Knesset if its objects or actions, expressly or by implication, include one of the following: (1) negation of the existence of the State of Israel as the state of the Jewish people; (2) negation of the democratic character of the State; (3) incitement to racism.".

• The irony of this law then encapsulates the conflict – because, unavoidably, advocating equal rights for all Israelis is considered to be one form of “negation of the existence of the State of Israel as the state of the Jewish people”, but this by definition is itself a form of racism because it involves giving privilege to one group over all others based on what religion they are, which is then outlawed in point #3, because by definition, racism negates “… the democratic character of the State”, which is outlawed in point #2, because a true democracy could not tolerate such things as legalized discrimination or laws that contradict themselves (Kretzmer, 1990)!

Thus this conflicted statute embodies the irresolvable conflict the State of Israel finds itself in. And many believe this is one reason the Knesset has not been able to develop a real Constitution or Bill of Rights. Instead, they have created a set of “Basic Laws” which are not able to be used to control the law-making activities of the Knesset, and a quasi-Bill of Rights that mention a few civil rights such as right to privacy, but still does not mention equal rights, as Israel’s declaration of independence does.

(For more information about the limits on the Basic Laws and the Israeli quasi-Bill of Rights, please see the article on limits on Israeli democracy in the essay section on the Israeli judiciary.)

In addition to the above insurmountable conflict between trying to maintain the State as a Jewish State while also maintaining it as a democracy, there is also the reality of the demographics wherein the population being suppressed in order to maintain rule by the minority Zionist Jewish population - is actually the majority in the region, and has higher birthrates as well. Thus below we have population statistics from both the CIA World Factbook and the United Nations Refugee Agency that show that even though the Zionist organizations and Israeli government have been able to forcibly create a majority of their own population within Israel and the occupied territories, the resulting Palestinian refugee population in the region still has the higher overall population, and has the higher birthrates.

There we have it - in order for it to accomplish its national goals of creating a Jewish State with a majority Jewish population to dominate its democracy, the Zionist organizations and the Israeli government have had to both oppress its native Palestinian Arab population and drive it out of its ancestral home-country - both crimes against humanity - grave violations of international law - legally and commonly known as apartheid and ethnic cleansing.

2. HISTORIC ORIGIN OF THIS TRAGIC IRONY

The European Zionist organizations that started the State of Israel had a combination of goals which unfortunately conflicted with each other:

• 1. They wanted to start a country which would be a refuge for the Jewish people, where the Jewish people would receive special attention, and be fully in control.
• 2. They wanted their new country to be a democracy.
• 3. They wanted their new country to be a model of freedom and justice.
• 4. They wanted to do all of this in a land where they were the minority population.

Unfortunately, as pointed out above, this combination of goals was a formula for disaster, largely because when Goal #4 was true, Goal #1 would automatically make Goals #2 & #3 virtually impossible.

Study of the cultural and historic origins of the Zionist movement are instructive in explaining how such a thing could develop.

The Zionist movement originated in Europe in the mid to late 1800’s – a time which was characterized by four major cultural and political movements that both inspired and shaped the Zionist movement. The Zionist movement itself then went through 5 different stages of development, all of which combined to lead to the conflicts outlined above:

• 1. European Enlightenment: in Europe, in the 1800’s, with the spread of the printing press, the ideas of freedom and equality blazed across Europe formenting political debate and revolution. These ideas were very exciting for the Jewish people, because for the first time they thought there might be a solution to their problems with Anti-Semitism, which had plagued them for hundreds of years.

  Thus during this period, Jewish leaders pushed assimilation, which meant fitting in with the new progressive intellectual and business classes of Europe that seemed to be free of Anti-Semitism.

• 2. Nationalism: from the ideas of freedom and equality grew a new movement of taking pride in one’s own group.

  The growth of Nationalism was also a positive thing for the Jewish people because they began to form associations to promote Judaism, and develop the Jewish identity independent of European culture. In some ways, this conflicted with the assimilation movement, but it also was complementary because both movements looked to fit in with European culture and society overall.

  Part of this was the beginning of the Judaism Reform Movement, which hoped to modernize and Europeanize Jewish thought and religious practice, to both help with assimilation, and also to help develop modern Jewish identity and culture that was also distinctive across the range of European cultures and society.

  Thus was born the first stage in the historic development of Zionism - CULTURAL ZIONISM - the Jewish cultural movement for helping the Jewish people of Europe through assimilation into general European society, while reforming and modernizing Judaism itself.

• 3. Ethnocentrism: Unfortunately, pride in one’s own group often led to hatred toward other groups, which then brought back Anti-Semitism. The epitomy of this was the trial and framing of Captain Dreyfus in France, where the unfair conviction of a Jewish Army officer led to waves of hatred toward Jews across France.

  This was a huge disappointment to the Jewish people and organizations that had hoped that finally in modern progressive European society they had finally found refuge from Anti-Semitism, and the freedom to pursue their own cultural developmental direction.

  Thus developed the next form of Zionism - POLITICAL ZIONISM - which focused on starting new Jewish communities, or even a Jewish State, which would be run by Jews, for Jews to be safe in, and prosper, and pursue their own cultural direction.

  Most of these communities still held onto the ideals of freedom and equality from the European Enlightenment period and thus developed their new communities according to the ideals of socialism. Thus was born the next stage in the maturation of the Zionist Movement - the LABOR ZIONISTS.

  But, many of these ideals were not practical, and thus many of these first communities failed. But then Baron Von Rothchild stepped in and forced many of these communities to become more practical – and more capitalistic – and more rigorous in their economic business practices, and these communities did much better.

  Labor Zionists were mostly secular and humanist, and yet generally still did not believe in full equal rights for non-Jews in Israel – an uncomfortable conflict for most of them.

  These communities were the forerunners of the Labor Movement and Labor Political Party in the State of Israel, when it finally came into being in 1948.

  A number of different places in the world were considered for these communities. Some of the different locations were Uganda in Africa, Argentina in South America, and even in Europe. But the one location that was closest to the heart and spirituality of the Zionist Jews was Palestine, where their religion had found home more than 2000 years ago.

  But Palestine was the home of about 1 million Palestinian Arabs, whose ancestry could be tracked back to the Philistines, over 2000 years back.

  And it is important to note that the Palestinian Arabs have lived peacefully with a small number of Jews who had lived in Palestine for thousands of years as well.

  Knowing about the large native population already living in Palestine, did the European Zionist organizations approach the native Palestinian Arabs and offer to cooperate in developing the land together? Did the European Zionist organizations offer to negotiate with the Palestinian Arabs that already lived there, some way to find common ground and a mutually beneficial way for both groups to live in Palestine together?

• 4. Imperialism: Even though the ideals of freedom and equality were central to the European Age of Enlightenment, during which Zionism first came into being, and also to the philosophy of Socialism, which was adopted by the first Zionist communities to settle in Palestine, these ideals did not extend to non-European cultures and communities and societies outside Europe elsewhere in the world. This was because European culture at the time was ethnocentric – which means that Europeans considered themselves to be superior to all other peoples, and thus had special privileges and special exemptions relative to the peoples found elsewhere in the world. Thus, we find Europeans, who within Europe believed in equality and freedom and legal due process, elsewhere in the world were practicing oppression, exploitation, slavery, colonialism, and what we would call today, violations of human rights. We also understand now that these actions were based in racist attitudes, which today are considered illegal and immoral. These oppressive and exploitive practices by European culture against non-European cultures based on racist understanding we now call “Imperialism”.

  We now understand such practices as Imperialism, colonialism, slavery, racist oppression and exploitation to be immoral and the international community has thus made them illegal with international laws written specifically to define them, and prevent, suppress and punish them.

  It is thus an ironic tragedy that the Zionists have been able to get away with such practices up to the present largely because they have been able to get the world to focus on the good side of their venture, while making them feel guilty about what happened to the Jews during the Nazi holocaust when over 6,000,000 Jews were slaughtered.

  CONSERVATIVE ZIONISM: The first wave of Jewish immigrants to Israel were from Europe (Eastern and Western), and they were largely followers of the ideals of socialism and European social liberalism. But the next few waves beginning in the 1970’s were from other areas of the world – from Russia and from Middle Eastern countries. These people were more conservative, and focused on just surviving, and beyond that – on economic stability and then on economic success. Thus they disagreed with the socialism of the other group of Jews, and they thus helped form the Conservative parties in Israeli politics, the main one becoming the Likud Party led by Ariel Sharon and Benjamin Netyanahu.

  The Conservative Zionist are both secular and religious, but their most important priority was the survival of Jews in Israel, at almost any cost.

  RELIGIOUS ZIONISM: This is one group of Conservative Zionists that base their political viewpoint on their fundamentalist understanding of the Torah – the main Jewish Holy Text. Thus they believe that according to their interpretation of the Torah, God has awarded the region of Palestine to the Jews, and because this involves the will of God, therefore any and every method, no matter how inhumane, is ok for kicking the Palestinian Arabs out, and securing the land for Jews alone.

  Thus, as the population of Israel became more conservative, the original dilemma that the State of Israel found itself in wherein the effort to create a system of special privilege for one group who were a minority in the region while still maintaining a system based on democracy, justice and equality, became resolved because the more conservative masses cared less about democracy, justice and equality, and more about merely surviving as a nation, thriving economically personally and nationally, and/or finally, realizing a religious fundamental vision which conflicted directly with the ideals of democracy, justice and equality.

3. OUTLINE OF LEGALIZED DISCRIMINATION IN ISRAEL

In order to fulfill its goal to provide extraordinary assistance to thousands of immigrant Jews coming to live in Israel (many of whom were extremely impoverished and/or traumatized by their experience in the holocaust), the Israeli legislature (the Knesset) began passing laws that gave them special privileges in Israeli society above other peoples already living in Israel, which meant legalizing discrimination in their favor. This legalization of discrimination began immediately in 1948(Kretzmer, 1990; Jabareen, 1998).

In most democratic societies, such special assistance to needy families and individuals focused on one group only is done through non-government charitable organizations set up by other members of that same group who are doing alright. But in Israel, this was done by the government itself, who, in a democracy, is supposed to serve all citizens equally. This is why it qualifies as discrimination (no matter how well-intentioned), which is illegal according to international law (International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination (1965), International Covenant on the Suppression and Punishment of the Crime of Apartheid (1976)).

This discrimination in Israel manifests in six categories:

• 1. Land Laws – Creation of Arab Ghettoes.
• 2. Immigration & Citizenship Laws.
• 3. Military Veteran Benefits.
• 4. Special Positions and funding for Zionist Organizations in Government and Jewish Organizations and Events leads to Discriminatory Application of Government Programs.
• 5. Inhumane Supression of Rebellion (up to 1966).
• 6. Racist Harassment in Daily Life Tolerated by Government Officials.

One of the most illustrative ways to study discrimination is to study the actual laws of discrimination because this is the form that is actually finally accepted by the official law-making legislature of the country (in Israel – the Knesset), and then put into action.

If there is a significant difference between the laws and what is actually practiced in the country, then this is illustrative of what the leaders of the country think that they should appear to the world to be practicing, and also that they are aware that what they are actually practicing is considered wrong or illegal by the rest of the world.

In Israel the laws are pretty much what is actually practiced. Where there is a difference, the legal details that look bad or are illegal are hidden in regulations that are not found in the actual laws that are readily available to the public, but instead are either unpublished, or are difficult to find – for example they might only be found in the offices of the government agency that is supposed to implement them. This is especially true of many of the Israeli military orders in use in the occupation in the adjacent Palestinian territories(Shehadeh, 1985).

4. OFFICIAL U.N. LEGAL DEFINITION OF APARTHEID

Below is the official legal definition of apartheid. It is instructive to compare Israeli legalized discrimination to the official definition of apartheid.

In the following chapters we examine the above 6 categories of Israeli legalized discrimination in terms of the actual laws by which they are implemented, and then in Part III, we analyze them according to the official definition of apartheid to see if there is a legal fit.

1. LAND LAWS – CONFINING ARAB CITIZENS TO SMALL AREAS OF ISRAEL - GHETTOES

The Zionist founders had made some important decisions regarding government and land in the State of Israel:

• 1. Their new country would be “a Jewish State”, where the Jewish people could take refuge from Anti-Semitism, and be in control of the country.
• 2. The Jewish people needed to be the demographic majority in the new country in order to keep their government as a democracy.
• 3. The land in the new country needed to be eternally owned by the Jewish People.

This last decision was made because the founders wanted to avoid land speculation for profit with land they considered both sacred and essential for settling the Jewish immigrants coming to the country for refuge from the anti-Semitism that they saw pervading the outside world.

Thus, the laws they developed for regulating the development of the lands of the State of Israel empowered the government to perform the following actions:

• 1. Take land from Arabs, and make them 'Israel Lands' (various categories of lands owned and/or managed by the national government).
• 2. Declare that 'Israel Lands' can never be sold or transferred except between government agencies or to the Jewish National Fund.
• 3. Declare that 'Israel Lands' will be managed and developed as per various policies which forbids non-Jews from leasing them, and which favors Jewish communities (although some exceptions have developed).
• 4. Give the Jewish National Fund semi-government status.
• 5. Empower the Israeli government to take lands that are not being used properly as per government policy, including the above policy forbidding non-Jewish residency.
• 6. Empower the Israeli government to take possession of lands owned by Arabs who left during the 1948 fighting (they called Absentees), and then redistribute their property to Zionist-Jewish citizens (a few Arab land owners were compensated). Then forbid these Absentees from returning to their homes within Israel (a few exceptions were allowed to re-enter Israel).
• 7. Develop 'Israel Lands' to favor Zionist-Jewish immigrants and settlements.

One excellent way to study these seven Israeli government actions is by studying the actual laws by which the Israeli government made them official, and a few other pertinent documents relevant to the point being made:

• 1. Take land from Arabs, and make them 'Israel Lands' (various categories of lands owned and/or managed by the national government).

  Notice in the laws quoted below, the government is ultimately given unlimited ability to take land from landowners.

  One important example of this happened following the passage of the Planning and Building Law in 1965. One of the Planning Commissions zoned out of existence 40 ancient Palestinian villages. When the villagers refused to leave, the government cut off electricity and other essential services “because the villages no longer existed”, Eventually the villagers had to go to the United Nations to get some relief.

  	EMERGENCY LAND REQUISITION (REGULATION) LAW (1949)
  Land requisition orders.	4. (a) A competent authority may, by order under his hand, order the requisition of land. Such an order shall be called a "land requisition order". (b) The competent authority may take possession of land in respect of which a land requisition order has been made, and so long as the order is in force, he, and only he, may occupy, use and exploit the land, either himself or through others, as he may deem necessary for the purpose for which the order was made.
  Housing orders.	7. (a) A competent authority may, by order under his hand, order the occupier of a house to surrender the house to the control of a person specified in the order, for residential purposes or for any other use, as may be prescribed in the order. Such an order shall be called a "housing order", and the person in whose favour it is made shall be called the "tenant".

  	STATE PROPERTY LAW (1951)
  Acquisition etc. of property on behalf of the State.	4. The Government may, on behalf of the State, acquire by way of purchase or exchange or in any other manner, hire, take on lease or otherwise acquire rights in, property situate in or out of Israel, on such conditions as it may think fit.

  LAND ACQUISITION (VALIDATION OF ACTS AND COMPENSATION) LAW (1953)

  Acquisition of land for purposes of development, settlement, or security.

  2. (a) Property in respect of which the Minister certifies by certificate under his hand-- (1) that on the 6th Nisan, 5712 (1st April, 1952) it was not in the possession of its owners; and (2) that within the period between the 5th Iyar, 5708 (14th May, 1948) and the 6th Nisan, 5712 (1st April 1952) it was used or assigned for purposes of essential development, settlement or security; and (3) that it is still required for any of these purposes-- shall vest in the Development Authority and be regarded as free from any charge, and the Development Authority may forthwith take possession thereof. (b) The property shall vest in the Development Authority as from the date specified in the said certificate; the certificate may only be issued within one year from the day of the coming into force of this Law, and shall be published in Reshumot as early as possible after the day of its issue. (c) Property vested in the Development Authority as aforesaid shall be registered in the Land Register in its name, but non-registration shall not affect the validity of the vesting of the property in the Development Authority. (d) A certificate under this section shall not constitute an admission that acquired property is not or was not State property or that the State has not or had not a right or interest therein.

  	PLANNING AND BUILDING LAW (1965)
  Combinations and partition with or without consent.	121. A Detailed Scheme may enact provisions also -- (1) as to the combination of plots, both with and without the consent of the owners thereof; (2) as to the repartition among the owners thereof of plots combined as aforesaid, both into jointly owned plots and into severally owned plots, and both with and without the consent of the owners (such a repartition hereinafter referred to as "repartition").
  Object of expropriation.	188. (a) By virtue of this Law, a Local Commission may expropriate immovable property intended for public purposes under any Scheme. (b) In this section, "public purposes" means roads, parks, recreation and sports areas, nature reserves, antiquities, parking sites, aerodromes, harbours, jetties, railway-stations, bus stations, markets, abattoirs, cemeteries, structures for educational, religious and cultural purposes, communal institutions, hospitals, clinics, public air-raid shelters and refuges, sewerage installations, refuse dumps, water supply installations, and any other public purpose approved by the Minister of the Interior for the purposes of this section.
  Exemption from payment of compensation.	200. Land shall be deemed not to be prejudicially affected where it is affected by a provision of the Scheme of any of the following kinds, provided that the harm does not exceed what is reasonable in the circumstances of the case and the payment of compensation to the injured party is not required in the interests of justice: (5) a permanent or temporary prohibition or restriction of building in a place where the erection of buildings on the land may, owing to the location or nature thereof, cause a danger of flooding or soil erosion or danger to health or life or excessive expenditure of public money for the construction of roads or drains or for water-supply or other public services; (1) A change in the delimitation of, or the conditions of the use of land in, any zones; (2) the determination of set-backs around and between buildings; (3) a restriction of the number of buildings in a particular area; (4) the regulation of the sites, size and height, and the planning of the shape and external appearance, of buildings; (5) a permanent or temporary prohibition or restriction of building in a place where the erection of buildings on the land may, owing to the location or nature thereof, cause a danger of flooding or soil erosion or danger to health or life or excessive expenditure of public money for the construction of roads or drains or for water-supply or other public services; 6) a prohibition or restriction of the use of the land, otherwise than by way of the prohibition or restriction of building, if such use is likely to involve danger to health or life or any other serious disadvantage to the vicinity; (7) a restriction on the modes of using buildings; (8) the fixing of a line, parallel to the road, beyond which no building shall project; (9) the imposition of the duty to provide, near a building intended for any business, trade or industry, a place for the loading, unloading and refuelling of vehicles, so as to avoid obstruction of traffic; (10) the imposition of the duty to provide, in or near a building intended for any business, trade or industry or for residential purposes or for a lodging-house or for use by the public, a place for the parking of vehicles or a shelter or refuge against air-raids. (11) a provision of a Scheme to which section 81 applies.

• 2. Declare that 'Israel Lands' can never be sold or transferred except between government agencies or to the Jewish National Fund.

  DEVELOPMENT AUTHORITY (TRANSFER OF PROPERTY) LAW (1950)

  3. The Development Authority is competent - (4) to sell or otherwise dispose of, let, grant leases of, and mortgage property; provided that -- (a) the Development Authority shall not be authorised to sell, or otherwise transfer the right of ownership of, property passing into public ownership, except to the State, to the Jewish National Fund, to an institution approved by the Government, for the purposes of this paragraph, as an institution for the settlement of landless Arabs, or to a local authority; the right of ownership of land so acquired may not be re-transferred except, with the consent of the Development Authority, to one of the bodies mentioned in this subparagraph;

  	STATE PROPERTY LAW (1951)
  Acquisition, etc. of property on behalf of the State.	4. The Government may, on behalf of the State, acquire by way of purchase or exchange or in any other manner, hire, take on lease or otherwise acquire rights in, property situate in or out of Israel, on such conditions as it may think fit.
  Transactions involving State property.	5. (b) (1) The Government shall not, on behalf of the State, sell or otherwise transfer the right of ownership of State property, being immovable property other than urban property, situate in Israel.- (i) and not exceeding one hundred dunams in area, except for the purpose of a boundary adjustment or the rounding-off of an estate, non-agricultural development, or other similar purposes; (ii) and exceeding one hundred dunams but not exceeding one thousand dunams in area, except for the purpose of non-agricultural development and with the approval of the Finance Committee of the Knesset; (iii) and exceeding one thousand dunams in area, except for the purpose of non-agricultural development and with the approval of the Knesset.

  	BASIC LAW: ISRAEL LANDS (1960)
  Prohibition of transfer of ownership.	1. The ownership of Israel lands, being the lands in Israel of the State, the Development Authority or the Keren Kayemet Le-Israel, shall not be transferred either by sale or in any other manner.

• 3. Declare that 'Israel Lands' will be managed and developed as per various policies which forbids non-Jews from leasing them, and which favors Jewish communities (although exceptions have developed).

  All 'Israel Lands' are owned, managed and developed by:

  • (1) government agencies --
    • Development Authority
    • Israel Land Administration (ILA)
  • (2) National Jewish Fund (JNF; a non-government private charitable organization).

  Both have discriminatory policies of not leasing 'Israel Lands' to non-Jews.

  About 19% of the total 'Israel Lands' are owned by the Jewish National Fund, but are managed by the Israel Land Administration as per a Covenant between them published in 1968, which requires the ILA to manage the lands as per JNF policies. This includes the policy not to lease these lands to non-Jews. But this discriminatory policy is largely only followed in rural areas since the urban areas have always been mixed.

  The rest of the 'Israel Lands' are owned by the Development Authority or the ILA. But their management is supervised by the Israel Lands Council as per the Israel Lands Administration Law (1960), which has generally promoted a discriminatory policy in leasing Israel Lands or state lands (with a few exceptions):

  	ISRAEL LANDS ADMINISTRATION LAW (1960)
  The Israel Lands Administration, its Director and staff.	2. (a) The Government shall establish an "Israel Lands Administration" (hereinafter referred to as "the Administration") to administer Israel lands.
  Israel Lands Council	3. The Government shall appoint an "Israel Lands Council" which shall lay down the land policy in accordance with which the Administration shall act, shall supervise the activities of the Administration and shall approve the draft of its budget, which shall be fixed by Law.
  Amendment of the Development Authority (Transfer of Property) Law, 5710-1950.	6. In the Development Authority (Transfer of Property) Law, 5710-1950(5) - (1) the words "The Development Authority is competent" in the opening passage of section 3 shall be replaced by the words "Subject to the Basic Law: Israel Lands and the Israel Law, 5720-1960, the Development Authority is competent"; (2) subparagraphs (a) to (d) of paragraph (4) of section 3 shall be replaced by the following: "save with the approval of the Israel Lands Council, the Development Authority shall not sell or otherwise transfer the ownership of, or let or lease, Israel lands, within the meaning of the Basic Law: Israel Lands, which are not urban land and the area of which exceeds 100 dunams;"; (3) the following closing passage shall be added after paragraph (10) of section 3: "Every act under this section in respect of Israel lands shall be done by the Israel Lands Administration.";

  Generally, the Israel Lands Council follows a discriminatory policy of not leasing Israel Lands in rural areas to non-Jews. The reason for this is due largely to the fact that the Israel Lands Council's ruling board contains almost half representatives from the JNF (Kretzmer, 1990), whose stated mission is to develop lands only for Jewish settlement.

  It is important to note that the Israel Lands Council had 3 important exceptions to its discriminatory land leasing policies (Kretzmer, 1990, p. 66):

  • 1. Urban areas, many of which were already mixed;
  • 2. Areas the government was trying to lease to Bedouin Arabs in the Negev as it tried to move them out of their traditional ancestral tribal areas, against their will;
  • 3. Small numbers of miscellaneous cases of leasing to Arabs rural lands for agricultural purposes.

  But despite these exceptions, the general policy governing land leasing for agricultural purposes was discriminatory against Arabs.

  Thus, up until recently, they generally only leased Israel Lands in rural areas mostly only to Jewish agricultural collectives, or their Jewish members. Then, in year 2000, the Israeli Supreme Court did rule in Qaadan v. Katzir that government land management agencies could not discriminate when leasing out Israel Lands, even if those lands were legally still owned by the non-government Jewish National Fund. And then in 2005, the Israeli Attorney General agreed with this and issued a ruling of his own that discriminatory land leasing by government agencies is illegal.

  We now have rulings by both the Supreme Court and the Attorney General that discrimination in land leasing is illegal. The next steps then are:

  • 1. For an actual law to be passed or amended to make this the law of the land;
  • 2. Anti-discrimination law to be actively enforced;
  • 3. Past discrimination to be corrected, for example through affirmative action programs.

  But change is sometimes slow, and thus steps 1 and 3 have not happened yet. But step #2 is happening to a large extent. One exciting example of this is the decision of the ILA to reverse their official Decision #897 which instituted a discriminatory criteria for a 50% discount in leasing rates throughout northern Israel, which would have discriminated against Arab communities, when the civil rights watchdog group, Adalah, protested (Adalah News Update, 30 Nov. 2005). But Adalah recently has also issued an important report to the Gadish Committee who's mandate was to seek ways to improve the ILA, detailing how discrimination still continues (Adalah News Update, 29 Aug. 2004).

  Thus discrimination still continues. Thus for example, the Covenant between the ILA and JNF leads to discriminatory leasing of Israel Lands by requiring the ILA to follow the policies laid out in the JNF 'Memorandum of Association'. Below we find quotes (found in the 1988 book, "Jewish National Fund" by Lehn & Davis) from the JNF Memorandum of Association, and quotes from JNF leases which provide evidence that the JNF had the policy of not leasing land to Arabs, that they were legally bound to implement it as per the Memorandum, and that it actively implemented it through its lease agreements, and then was passed onto the ILA through the covenant (Kretzmer, 1990).

  The end result is that non-Jewish access to rural Israel Lands is limited by (1) a covenant between the JNF and ILA limiting leasing on Israel Lands to Jews only, and (2) on ILA/Development Authority lands by the ongoing discriminatory leasing policies implemented by the Israel Lands Council, which together potentially impacts more than 95% of the land of Israel.

  However, even though the discriminatory leasing policies described above do seem to be slowly coming to an end, as the court rulings begin to negatively affect these discriminatory policies and practices, the Arabs in Israel are still stuck with the situation of struggling to lease lands that once were their own, which were taken from them for shaky legal reasons.

  JNF MEMORANDUM OF ASSOCIATION (1925) (original JNF incorporated in England)

  Art. 3.3. … to let any land … to any Jew or to any unincorporated body of Jews or to any company as to which the Board of Directors … is of the opinion that … (1) the company is a company under Jewish control, and (2) the company is engaged or intends to engage in the settlement of Jews in the prescribed region.

  (Lehn & Davis (1988), p.123-7.)

  JNF MEMORANDUM OF ASSOCIATION (1954) (new JNF incorporated in Israel following founding of the State of Israel)

  Art. 3.e. … to let… on such terms and in such manner as it may deem fit.

  (Lehn & Davis (1988), p.123-7.)

  JNF CONTRACT OF LEASE

  BETWEEN the Jewish National Fund, Ltd., Jerusalem (registered in England), as registered by the Registrar of Companies and Partnerships of the Government of the Land of Israel, Jerusalem, on the 21 November, 1920, Registration no. L/109/Co, hereinafter called The Fund, on the first part, through its attorneys ________________ Art. 17. The Fund will not give its endorsement to the transfer of the lease in the following cases: (a) if the transfer is to be effected to a person or a company to whom the Fund according to its Memorandum of Association is prohibited from leasing its land;

  (Lehn & Davis (1988), p.194.)

  JNF CONTRACT OF SUB-LEASE

  BETWEEN ________________________, registered with the Registrar Co-operative Associations in Jerusalem on ________________________, hereinafter called The Association, on the first part; AND BETWEEN ________________________, by mutual guarantee, hereinafter called The Lessee, on the second part; AND BETWEEN The Jewish National Fund, Jerusalem, hereinafter called The Fund, on the third part; AND BETWEEN The Nir Co-operative Company for the Settlement of Hebrew Workers Ltd.,… Clause XI. Transfer of Rights 1. (a) The lessee has the right to transfer his rights under the present contract to another lessee (hereinafter called The Candidate) … (b) The lessee will have to obtain the prior agreement of the Association in writing endorsing the candidate. (c) The candidate will have to be a member in the Association and the Workers Company at the time of the transfer of these said rights. (Note: only Jews could be members of the Association and the Workers Company)

  (Lehn & Davis (1988), p.207.)

  ILA CONTRACT OF LEASE (Individual Leasehold)

  Drawn up and signed in __________________ On the _________ day of the _________ month of the year _________ On the _________ day of the _________ month of the year _________ BETWEEN The Israel Lands Administration under its authority to administer Israel-lands (hereinafter The Administration), on the first part; AND BETWEEN ________________________ Identity No. _____________ ________________________ Identity No. _____________ (hereinafter The Lessee), on the second part. Definitions 1. In this contract: (f) Qualified Lessee: A person who may, according to the decision of the Israel-Lands Council, be a lessee of a leasehold of Israel-Lands … Transfer of the Lease and Sub-lease 8. (d) The Administration will not give its consent to the transfer of the lease to a person who is not a qualified lessee.

  (Lehn & Davis (1988), p.220)
• 4. Give the Jewish National Fund semi-government status.

  The Jewish National Fund in Hebrew is Keren Kayemet Le-Israel.

  In the laws and covenant between the JNF and the government, this non-government organization is given semi-government powers and influence, and the government agrees to follow JNF policies when it is given charge over JNF-owned lands, including policies that discriminate against non-Jews.

  But as we saw above, recent rulings by the Supreme Court and Attorney General have made these discriminatory policies of the JNF illegal. Now we have to see how this is enforced and even past discriminatory actions are reversed.

  	KEREN KAYEMET LE-ISRAEL LAW (1953)
  Inapplicability of certain sections of companies Ordinance.	5. Section 112 and the second and third paragraphs of section 121 (1) of the Companies Ordinance shall not apply to the new company.
  Power under Land (Acquisition for Public Purposes) Ordinance, 1943.	6. For the purposes of section 22 of the Land (Acquisition for Public Purposes) Ordinance, 1943(2), the new company shall have the same status as a local authority.

• 5. Empower the Israeli government to take lands that are not being used properly as per government policy, including the above policy forbidding non-Jewish residency.

  	EMERGENCY REGULATIONS (CULTIVATION OF WASTELANDS) ORDINANCE (1949)
  Assumption of Control of wasteland by Minister of Agriculture.	4. If the owner of the waste land does not apply to the Minister of Agriculture as specified in regulation 3, or if the Minister of Agriculture is not satisfied that the owner of the land has begun or is about to begin or will continue to cultivate the land, the Minister of Agriculture may assume control of the land in order to ensure its cultivation.
  Period of control.	5. (a) The period during which the Minister of Agriculture retains control of waste land or for which he hands over waste land for cultivation shall not extend beyond a term of five years from the day on which he assumed control thereof.

  PLANNING AND BUILDING LAW (1965)

  Discontinuance of non-conformity upon expiration of maximum period.

  183. Not later than the expiration of the maximum period, the non-conforming use of the building shall cease, or the building shall be so altered as to be no longer non-conforming or shall be demolished or removed. In default, the Magistrate's Court may, on the application of the Local Commission or the Attorney-General or his representative, order the user of, or a person having a right in, the building to implement the above, all as the case may be and as the Court may deem just in the circumstances of the case.

  	AGRICULTURAL SETTLEMENT (RESTRICTIONS ON USE OF AGRICULTURAL LAND AND WATER) LAW (1967)
  Prohibition of non-conforming use.	2. A person occupying or entitled to occupy agricultural land, being Israel lands within the meaning of the Basic Law: Israel Lands(1), under a lease agreement or by authority (such a person hereinafter referred to as "the occupier"), shall not make non-conforming use of that land save under a written permit from the Minister of Agriculture or from a person empowered in that behalf by the Minister by notice in Reshumot. If a person empowered by the Minister of Agriculture as aforesaid has refused to permit non-conforming use, the occupier may apply for reconsideration of the matter by the Minister himself.
  Prohibition of transfer of water quota.	3. An occupier for whom a water quota has been fixed by the Water Commissioner or by any other authority empowered in that behalf under law or to whom a quantity of water has been allocated out of a quota fixed as aforesaid for a body of persons of which he is a member (both such first-mentioned quota and such quantity hereinafter referred to as a "personal quota") shall not transfer his personal quota to another person, or use it or permit another person to use it, for the purposes of land of which non-conforming use is made, save under a written permit from the Minister of Agriculture or from a person empowered in that behalf by the Minister by notice in Reshumot.
  Proceedings for termination of right to parcel.	6. (a) Where a person contravenes any of the provisions of section 2 or 3 in respect of agricultural land occupied by him or in respect of the personal quota allocated therefor, and, notwithstanding written warning from the Minister of Agriculture or a person empowered by him in that behalf by notice in Reshumot, he does not discontinue the contravention within one month from the date of receipt of the warning, the Minister of Agriculture or a person empowered by him in that behalf by notice in Reshumot may claim before the committee the termination of his right in respect of that agricultural land and of his right to the personal quota allocated for that land.

• 6. Empower the Israeli government to take possession of lands owned by Arabs who left during the 1948 fighting (they called Absentees), and then redistribute their property to Zionist-Jewish citizens (a few Arab land owners were compensated). Then forbid these Absentees from returning to their homes within Israel (a few exceptions were allowed to re-enter Israel).

  This was even applied to Palestinians who had left their homes but were still within the boundaries of the State of Israel – they still lost their lands and everything that was on it. There were called “present absentees” (Kretzmer, 1990) .

  	ABSENTEES’ PROPERTY LAW (1950)
  Interpretation.	1. In this Law - (b) "absentee" means - (1) a person who, at any time during the period between the 16th Kislev, 5708 (29th November, 1947) and the day on which a declaration is published, under section 9(d) of the Law and Administration Ordinance, 5708-1948(1), that the state of emergency declared by the Provisional Council of State on the 10th Iyar, 5708 (19th May, 1948)(2) has ceased to exist, was a legal owner of any property situated in the area of Israel or enjoyed or held it, whether by himself or through another, and who, at any time during the said period - (i) was a national or citizen of the Lebanon, Egypt, Syria, SaudiArabia, Trans-Jordan, Iraq or the Yemen, or (ii) was in one of these countries or in any part of Palestine outside the area of Israel, or (iii) was a Palestinian citizen and left his ordinary place of residence in Palestine (a) for a place outside Palestine before the 27th Av, 5708 (1st September, 1948); or (b) for a place in Palestine held at the time by forces which sought to prevent the establishment of the State of Israel or which fought against it after its establishment; (2) a body of persons which, at any time during the period specified in paragraph (1), was a legal owner of any property situated in the area of Israel or enjoyed or held such property, whether by itself or through another, and all the members, partners, shareholders, directors or managers of which are absentees within the meaning of paragraph (1), or the management of the business of which is otherwise decisively controlled by such absentees, or all the capital of which is in the hands of such absentees;
  Vesting of absentees' property in Custodian.	4. (a) Subject to the provisions of this Law - (1) all absentees' property is hereby vested in the Custodian as from the day of publication of his appointment or the day on which it became absentees' property, whichever is the later date; (2), every right an absentee had in any property shall pass automatically to the Custodian at the time of the vesting of the property; and the status of the Custodian shall be the same as was that of the owner of the property. (b) The proceeds of vested property shall be dealt with like the vested property yielding the proceeds.
  Absentees' businesses.	8. (a) The Custodian may carry on the management of a business on behalf of an absentee, whether or not he indicates that the business is managed by the Custodian, but he shall always have the right to sell or lease the whole or a part of the business, and - (1) if it is the business of an individual - to liquidate it; (2) if it is the business of a partnership all the partners of which are shareholders of which are absentees, or of a cooperative society all the members of which are absentees - to wind up the partnership, company or cooperative society by order published in Reshumot.
  Validity of transactions.	17. Any transaction made in good faith between the Custodian and another person in respect of property which the Custodian considered at the time of the transaction to be vested property shall not be invalidated and shall remain in force even if it is proved that the property was not at the time vested property.
  Limitation of powers of Custodian.	19. (a) Where the vested property is of the category of immovable property, the Custodian shall not - (1) sell or otherwise transfer the right of ownership thereof; provided that if a Development Authority is established under a Law of the Knesset, it shall be lawful for the Custodian to sell the property to that Development Authority at a price not less than the official value of the property;

  	PREVENTION OF INFILTRATION (OFFENSES AND JURISDICTION) LAW (1954)
  Definitions.	1. In this Law -- "infiltrator" means a person who has entered Israel knowingly and unlawfully and who at any time between the 16th Kislev, 3708 (29th November, 1947) and his entry was - (1) a national or citizen of the Lebanon, Egypt, Syria, Saudi-Arabia, Trans-Jordan, Iraq or the Yemen ; or (2) a resident or visitor in one of those countries or in any part of Palestine outside Israel ; or (3) a Palestinian citizen or a Palestinian resident without nationality or citizenship or whose nationality or citizenship was doubtful and who, during the said period, left his ordinary place of residence in an area which has become a part of Israel for a place outside Israel.
  Penalty for infiltrator.	2. An infiltrator is liable to imprisonment for a term of five years or to a fine of five thousand pounds or to both such penalties.
  Penalty for sheltering or otherwise aiding an infiltrator.	6. A person who shelters an infiltrator or otherwise aids an infiltrator in order to facilitate his infiltration or his unlawful presence in Israel is liable to imprisonment for a term of five years or to a fine of five thousand pounds or to both such penalties.

• 7. Develop 'Israel Lands' to favor Zionist-Jewish immigrants and settlements.

Thus, Palestinian Arabs all over the State of Israel lost their lands, and continue to lose the lands to the State, and then, because they are not legally allowed to lease State lands, they have become largely confined to smaller and smaller areas which are either in the cities or privately owned in the rural areas of the country (Kretzmer, 1990), which together total less than 5% of the State of Israel. But even though the recent court and AG rulings (of 2000 and 2005) forbids discriminatory leasing so that Palestinian Arabs could now theoretically lease Israel lands, the change of policy and law to criminalize and even reverse discrimination is slow, and they are still in the situation of having to lease lands that were once their own, and taken from them for questionable reasons.

The Palestinian communities then become victims of discrimination in the distribution of government programs such that the Arabs now live in the most impoverished areas of the State of Israel. Studies have documented discrimination in the distribution of such programs as anti-poverty development grants, grants for special education, grants for school safety and school truancy, and others. Thus, these areas would qualify as 'bhantulands' where the victim group is confined separate from the general population, as per point #5 in the official legal definition of apartheid:

Thus, confining a people to small areas of a country based on what religion they are is a form of racism, and those areas can be called ghettoes. Isn’t this what happened to Jews in World War II?

2. IMMIGRATION & CITIZENSHIP LAWS

Jewish people are given automatic citizenship in Israel.

But gaining Israeli citizenship by Arabs is much more difficult. In addition, it is a regular practice by the Minister of the Interior that their non-citizen Arab spouses are forbidden entry into the country. And this was codified into law in 2003 for Arab spouses that were residents of the occupied territories.

In addition, those Arabs who fled the area that became Israel during the 1948 war, and then fled the areas Israel occupied during the 1967 war, were then forbidden re-entry, and their property and possessions were taken by the government and often redistributed to Israelis who had just immigrated to the country.

Then, all Israelis are required to carry identification papers. But these papers list on them the nationality of origin of the person, which for the Israeli Arab Citizen would mean Palestinian citizenship. This then is used as a criteria for practicing discrimination against them by government employees in the provision of government services.

Efforts to correct this have been unsuccessful. The most telling effort was the effort by equal rights activists to have their nationality of origin listed as “Israeli”, but this was forbidden even for native born Israeli Jews, because the government realizes that this might then set a precedent which could be used by Israeli Arabs.

And now, spouses of Arab citizens, who reside in the occupied territories, are forbidden from joining their families in Israel, with the passage of the Nationality and Entry into Israel (Temporary Order) Law (2003). This violates international human rights laws which aims to protect the family.

-----------------------

Jewish people have guaranteed citizenship in the State of Israel as per the 1950 Law of Return.

In contrast, it is made much more difficult for an Arab to gain citizenship.

If an Arab had left the area of the State of Israel during the war of 1948, for whatever reason, the Knesset passed the Nationality Law of 1952 which cancels his rights to citizenship in the country that now rules over his home, and then subsequent regulations to the Entry into Israel (1952) and the Prevention Of Infiltration (Offences And Jurisdiction) Law (1954) forbids him returning to his home.

In addition, his possessions and property were confiscated and redistributed to Israeli citizens, as per the Absentees’ Property Law of 1950. Eventually a small minority of Arab refugees were allowed to return, and/or were compensated for their losses.

The government then passed laws and regulations requiring all inhabitants to first register in a national registry of inhabitants, and then to carry identification papers, both of which lists the person’s religion and nationality of origin (which included whether they were Palestinian Arab or not, or Jewish), such as the Emergency Regulations (Possession and Presentation of Identity Certificate) Ordinance of 1948, Registration of Inhabitants Ordinance (1949), Population Registry Law of 1965, and then the Identity Certificate (Possession and Presentation) Law of 1982. This procedure thus makes the Arab citizen vulnerable to discrimination – for example, this information has then been used by government employees to practice discrimination in the provision of government services. Legal efforts to change this to eliminate the opportunity for discrimination have been unsuccessful.

The Registration of Inhabitants Ordinance (1949) was then updated in 1965 by the Population Registry Law (1965):

Then in 1982, the requirement to carry an identification certificate was updated in the Identity Certificate (Possession and Presentation) Law(1982) with no significant changes to the subject of this essay.

Finally, in year 2003, the Israeli Knesset passed the Nationality and Entry into Israel (Temporary Order) Law (2003) codifying the ongoing policy of the Minister of the Interior forbidding Arab citizens of Israel from bringing into Israel their Arabic spouses if their spouses were residents of the occupied territories – an immigration regulation clearly based on a racist criteria directly reflecting the need of the State of Israel to practice Ethnic Cleansing in order to maintain the control of their “democracy” by their own ethnic minority of the region. The rationale expressed to the press is that this law keeps out Palestinian terrorists of course.

Thus, a person who is a "resident of the region" (the occupied territories - West Bank or Gaza), whether they are registered or not with the Israelis, can now be excluded from receiving nationality (if they don't already have it) or being allowed to enter Israel.

Then in the 2005 amendment to this law, they clarified the exceptions to this law, but the basic power to discriminate is left intact. It is interesting to note the decision to exclude younger adults from the exceptions.

The translations of this law and its amendment come from, and extensive information on the fight against this law, can be found on the website of Adalah: The Legal Center for Arab Minority Rights in Israel (www.adalah.org).

3. MILITARY VETERANS BENEFITS DISCRIMINATION

It is a standard practice of all nations to reward their soldiers.

And it might be considered reasonable that a nation might want to keep out of its military those whom it fears might have mixed feelings about defending the country where they reside.

But it is considered to be a form of discrimination if that nation does not provide some other means of obtaining those same benefits, for example through participation in a public service program that might even help improve their own community.

Thus is the situation in Israel, where most Arab citizens are forbidden service in the Israeli military, and thus then are forbidden the wide range of benefits that are awarded to Israeli military veterans.

And no other type of service is offered, even on a voluntary basis, for Arabs to participate in, in order to gain those benefits.

The situation is aggravated by the fact that those benefits are then awarded to Israelis who attend the full-time Yeshivas – Jewish Religious Schools.

In addition to the benefits coming from the Israeli government, there are many private benefits awarded to military veterans throughout Israeli society, which are thus systematically denied to most Arab citizens of Israel.

Originally, Arab participation in the Israeli military was forbidden in the original law defining the Israeli Defense Forces, the Defense Army of Israel Ordinance, of 1948. But this was quickly canceled the next year in the Defense Service Law of 1949, which empowered the Israeli Minister of Defense to exclude from Military service entire classes of people.

In this 1949 ordinance, the Knesset empowered the Minister of Defense to exclude entire classes of people from military service, and exercise of this power does not have to be published in Reshumot (Official Gazette), and by extension anywhere else:

The Knesset then passed a huge range of laws giving special benefits to Israeli military veterans in every area of life in Israel. Below is a small sample of those laws:

• Discharged Soldiers (Return to Work) Law (1949)
• Grants to Soldiers and their Families Regulations (1970)
• Discharged Soldiers Law (1984)
• Israel Defence Forces (Permanent Service) (Benefits) (Consolidated Version) (1985)
• Discharged Soldiers (Adjustment Grant) Law (1988)

The benefits gained from the State laws range from special financial assistance (with mortgages, other loans, child exemptions from taxes, etc.), to housing. In addition there are all sorts of other benefits that come to veterans from the private sector.

The important point is that the Israeli Knesset and Supreme Court have successfully fought off any effort to gain for the Arab citizens of Israel equal access to similar benefits, even through a voluntary service program, even though they have been denied participation in the military without their consent.

4. SPECIAL GOVERNMENT POSITIONS FOR ZIONIST ORGANIZATIONS LEADS TO DISCRIMINATION IN GOVERNMENT SERVICES

The Israeli legislature (the Knesset) is ruled by the Pro-Zionist parties.

The Knesset has passed numbers of laws spelling out special relationships between the Israeli government and the major Zionist organizations. The most important of these laws is the World Zionist Organization – Jewish Agency (Status) Law of 1952.

In addition, the Legislature has repeatedly passed laws placing representatives of the major Zionist organizations in important positions throughout the Israeli government. Below are examples from laws defining government committees ruling over land development and management, and management of the agricultural industry.

And the Knesset has also awarded special funding to Jewish Institutions and events. See below for details.

-----------------------------------

First, below is the law delineating the special relationship between the Israeli government and the World Zionist Organization and the Jewish Agency, the two main Zionist organizations in Israel, which were instrumental in creating the State of Israel.

Then the Knesset passed a law which gives special status to the Jewish National Fund in comparison to other non-government agencies, including status as a government agency when it comes to the acquisition of land:

The Legislature also passed laws placing representation for the World Zionist Organization or the Jewish Agency in the main government committees dealing with land development and management – some examples are the Planning and Building Law, article 2(a) (1965), the Galilee Law, article 3(b) (1988), and the Negev Law, amendment of 1988:

The Legislature also passed laws placing representatives of major Zionist organizations in the various government committees managing the agricultural industry:

Because of these special positions in government for Zionist organizations, Jewish development projects, community improvement projects, agricultural projects all get special attention from government programs.

No comparable opportunities  to influence Government decision-making is given to Arab groups.  This is unfair discrimination and leads to discrimination in distribution of government services.

----------------------------------------

In addition, the government gives special funding to Jewish religious groups, events and traditions.  A few examples are (relevant articles are quoted below):

• Flag and Emblem Law (1949) – makes Jewish religious symbols the official symbols of the State of Israel.
• Jewish Religious Services Law (1971) – empowers government to set up special Jewish religious councils throughout the country, which are government funded. No comparable funding is given to other religions.
• Chief Rabbinate of Israel Law (1980) – establishes a Council of the Chief Rabbinate, which includes many government officials, and gives Chief Rabbinate of Israel some government level powers. Comparable mixing of government and religious authority is not awarded to other religions.
• Foundations of Law (1980) – establishes Jewish religious law as law of last resort for Israeli courts.
• Festival of Matzot (Prohibition of Leaven) Law (1986) – requires store owners in Jewish areas to only display Matzot (Jewish unleaven bread) during a certain Jewish religious holiday.

5. INHUMANE SUPPRESSION OF REBELLION (up to 1966)

The Israeli government suppresses rebellion in Israel by inhibiting and violating many human rights.

The Basic Law: The Knesset (9th amendment)(1985) inhibits politicians from advocating equal rights, and the Amutot Law (1980) inhibits people from joining controversial organizations, and inhibits those organizations from supporting equal rights. But with the Defense (Emergency) Regulations of 1945, the Israeli government gravely violations many human rights.

In 1945, the British mandate government for Palestine installed the Defense (Emergency) Regulations of 1945, in order to squash the violence raging between the British, Zionists, and Palestinian Arabs. What distinguished those regulations were how they violated human rights by allowing such things as imprisonment without charges or trial, demolishing homes and businesses, deportation, and many other measures on both individual and collective scales, now considered illegal by international law. Even the Jewish Legal association severely criticized these regulations.

But almost immediately in 1948, when the State of Israel was established, the new Provisional Government adopted the Defense (Emergency) Regulations, and began using them in the Arab communities to suppress rebellion and enforce the law.

Of course these made things worse, aggravating the tensions between the Arabs and the Zionists even more. But finally, in 1966, they were retired, to only be reinstalled for use by the Israeli military in the occupied territories taken the next year in the 6-Day War.

Below are sample quotes from all 3 laws and regulations.

The 9th amendment to the Basic Law: The Knesset (1985) empowers the Knesset Elections Committee to bar politicians from running for membership in the Knesset if they advocate for 3 things - against Israel as a Jewish State, against Israel as a democratic state, and for racism. Unfortunately, advocating for equal rights has been interpreted as an example of advocating against Israel as a Jewish State because by definition a Jewish State would give special rights to the Jewish people. Thus this law inhibits the freedom of speech of politicians.

The Amutot Law (1980) establishes the regulations for establishing non-profit organizations. It includes articles which inhibit the freedom of association by requiring such organizations to make available to all its members its entire membership list with all contact info. This would inhibit many people from joining controversial non-profit organizations because then their membership and contact info would then be available to government agents as well, who might be posing as members.

The Defense (Emergency) Regulations of 1945 include human rights violations such as:

• Reg. 84. Unlawful Association -- empowers an Israeli government official or military commander to declare any body or persons or organization, whether incorporated or not, to be an unlawful association. Thus any person who joins such an organization, or attends their meetings may be subject to fine or imprisonment.
• Reg. 94. Censorship of Newspapers -- This regulation has been expanded to include all forms of modern publication and media (textbooks, videos, etc.).
• Reg. 110. Home Area Detentions -- this regulation empowers the area commander to order civilians to stay in any place of his chosing, and for as long as he choses.
• Reg. 111. Administrative Detention -- Imprisonment (individuals or groups) without charges or trial, called officially 'administrative detention'. The military has amended the regulation to include system of review and appeal.
• Reg. 112. Deportation -- (individuals or groups) without trial or charges.
• Reg. 119. Home demolition -- or private or commercial property demolition (on individual or entire neighborhoods) without charges or trial.
• Reg. 124 & 125. Curfew & Closures -- (for individuals or entire neighborhoods or village lands) without charges or trial.

Here are some sample quotes from the 1945 regulations:

6. RACIST HARASSMENT IN DAILY LIFE

Arabs experience racist harassment where ever they go in public - on the streets, in stores, in government buildings. And they experience no help from the police.

Below is the official legal definition of Apartheid, as per international law, as defined by the United Nations in 1876:

Article I declares that Apartheid is a crime against humanity because it violates basic principles of international law and the Charter of the United Nations.

Article II legally defines Apartheid as consisting of 6 different categories of crimes:

• 1. Denial of life and liberty to a racial group (for example by murder, serious bodily harm (torture, degrading punishment, etc.), infringement on their freedom or dignity, arbitrary arrest and illegal imprisonment.
• 2. Deliberate imposition of inhumane living conditions;
• 3. Legislation forbidding a racial group from full participation in the society they live in through the denial of their basic human rights such as right to work, education, organize trade unions, peaceful association, movement, speech, etc.
• 4. Confining a racial group to small areas separate from the rest of the country - generally called ghettoes, or bantulands (in South Africa).
• 5. Exploitation of the labor of the racial group, especially forced labor.
• 6. Oppression of rebellion against apartheid, specifically because they oppose the apartheid system of their country.

Now the analysis through comparison of Israeli legalized discrimination as found in the laws of the State of Israel to the 6 categories of crimes outlined in the International Covenant On The Suppression And Punishment Of The Crime Of Apartheid (1976):

• 1. Denial of life and liberty to a racial group (for example by murder, serious bodily harm (torture, degrading punishment, etc.), infringement on their freedom or dignity, arbitrary arrest and illegal imprisonment:

  The strongest evidence of these types of human rights violations within Israel was the use of the Defense (Emergency) Regulations of 1945 in the Palestinian population centers, but their use ended in 1966. These regulations actually include arrest and imprisonment without formal charges or trial amongst their measures.

  But, there is not significant evidence of widespread torture within Israel since its creation.

  All massacres of Palestinian civilians and POW’s by Zionist forces that would qualify as killing of a racial group occurred prior to the creation of the State of Israel. They would probably qualify as genocide, but I don’t believe they can be used as evidence that Israel is an apartheid state per se.

  Displacement of 750,000 civilians in 1948 (and Zionist forces were involved in this), and then forbidding them from returning to their homes after the end of the fighting probably would be considered inhumane punishment. It was done for security reasons, but it was also done so that the Zionists could then have a majority in the country they were about to create. Many actually consider this to be an example of Ethnic Cleansing.

• 2. Deliberate imposition of inhumane living conditions:

  Palestinian Arabs are forced to live in poverty because of confinement in ghettoes, deliberate denial of many benefit programs (for example through discrimination in veteran benefits and area-based programs), and because their group is denied equal influence in government decision making (because Zionist organizations are given special positions throughout Israeli government).

  On the surface this appears to be only the side-effect of the government trying to give special privileges to the Jewish population, rather than the direct affect of malicious attempt to hurt the Arab population.

  But because the Israeli government knows this is happening, and continues to not do anything significant about it, then this would probably qualify as deliberate impoverishment, which would probably qualify as subjecting a racial group to inhumane living conditions based on their religion.

• 3. Legislation forbidding a racial group from full participation in the society they live in through the denial of their basic human rights such as right to work, education, organize trade unions, peaceful association, movement, speech, etc.:

  Clearly the legislature of Israel has passed laws isolating Palestinian Arabs in small parts of the country separate from the main areas of commerce and culture. And clearly the legislature has passed laws keeping the Palestinian Arabs from enjoying many of the benefit programs generally available in Israeli society. Plus, in addition to the Defense (Emergency) Regulations of 1945 described above, which allowed such things as imprisonment without charges or trial, there are two instances where the Knesset has passed laws that interfere with civil rights – the 9th Amendment to the Basic Law: The Knesset (1985), which inhibits free speech of politicians, and the Amutot Law (1980) which inhibits freedom of association.

• 4. Confining a racial group to small areas separate from the rest of the country - generally called ghettoes, or bantulands (in South Africa):

  Israeli land policy turns most land in Israel into State land, and then up until recently, forbade leasing of State land to non-Jews for residence. Even though the discriminatory leasing is winding down, the end result is still that Palestinian Arabs are legally confined to small areas of land within rural Israel (now less than 5%), and outside these areas, they are essentially only allowed to lease lands which were once their own.. This fits the above part of the official legal definition of Apartheid.

• 5. Exploitation of the labor of the racial group, especially forced labor:

  Within Israel, there is no evidence that Palestinian Arabs are enslaved or forced to work against their will, but there is evidence of wage discrimination where Arabs are not paid as much as Jews for the same type of work.

• 6. Oppression of rebellion against apartheid, specifically because they oppose the apartheid system of their country:

  Although there are a wide range of political and legal services organizations allowed to exist in Israel which actively oppose and fight against the legalized discrimination found in Israel, which forms the basis of the claim that Israel is an Apartheid State, there were numbers of ways that their ability to fight against Apartheid were inhibited legally.

  The most important example was the use up to 1966 of the Defense (Emergency) Regulations of 1945 within the Palestinian population centers, which are described above.

  But, in addition to this, politicians who wish to run for membership in the Knesset are inhibited from speaking about equal rights because of the 9th Amendment of 1985, to the Basic Law: The Knesset, and the Amutot Law of 1980 which inhibits membership in non-profit organizations that might work for controversial goals (also described above).

This analysis shows that there are number of examples practiced by the State of Israel for all 6 categories of crimes found in the official definition of the crime of Apartheid.

Thus, this analysis shows that Israel practices Apartheid – is an Apartheid State.

This article examines violations of human rights and international law in legal terms and in terms of the complex of laws found in the State of Israel. But it is important to remember that these legal violations represent very real suffering – very intense suffering, which naturally would lead to intense rage. So, in the Middle East, when we actually visit the conflicted areas, we do not find abstract legal patterns, but real people suffering and dying, families being made homeless, falling into poverty, and being destroyed. When we remember this, then we can begin to understand the rage.

But no one seriously concerned with justice, freedom and equality, would ever support violent terrorism and the random killing of civilians, but it is important not to condemn an entire rebellion for one tactic which we might disagree with. It is important to look at the big picture – the historic context of the rebellion to see the truth of what is going on. And thus we can do this, and consequently support the overall rebellion, while condemning that one tactic which we disagree with.

The Palestinian/Israeli conflict is distinguished by multiple tragic ironies.

The Zionists chose a place to start a country in order to create a place where they would be safe, but they have so antagonized the native peoples of that area, that the area has now become a war zone where no one is safe.

The Zionist set out to build a democracy distinguished by its practice of justice, freedom and equality, but this goal conflicted with its other national goal to create a Jewish State where the Jewish people would be taken special care of. In addition, they chose a region to do this in where the Jewish people are actually the minority. The end result is a nation that is known for its massive violation of human rights, international law, its system of legalized discrimination, and its practice of ethnic cleansing (in order to make the Jewish people the majority population in the area), exploitation and oppression, and possibly genocide in the territories it occupies.

The Israelis want the world to see their opponents as terrorists, but nothing undercuts international law and reform more than the Israelis being able to get away with multiple violations of international law and morality, with the aid and support of the United States of America, who supposedly is trying to spread democracy across the world.

In fact, resentment and anger toward Israel, and support for it by the USA, is one of the main factors motivating world terrorism.

The Israelis want opponents declared to be anti-Semites, but nothing spreads anger and resentment for Israel more than their own illegal inhumane practices.

The Jewish people used to be known as an oppressed minority, but now because of the efforts of the Israeli government to identify the Israeli government and its practices with the Jewish people, there is now tremendous growth of anti-Semitism (hatred against Jews) across the globe, and the Jews are now being identified with inhumane unjust violation of laws, instead of as victims of injustice.

Besides hatred based on religion being wrong and immoral, this is also unfair because there are many Jews, including within Israel, who oppose the inhumane and illegal policies and practices of the Israeli government.

The Jewish religion is known for its tradition of law and justice, but now the Israelis have built a country which was originally intended to be a refuge for the Jewish people, has now become known for its inhumane violations of law.

The Israelis have obviously lost their moral compass, and it is hurting everyone.

Israeli actions and policies in the occupied territories and toward the Palestinian people within Israel are holding up progress in building up international relations across every divide and difference, because poorer people have come to resent how the Israeli government is getting away with so much wrong.

The world must stop the Israeli government now, so that the suffering and killing will finally stop, so that a sense of justice can be felt in the Middle East, and the rest of the world, which will lessen the attraction of terrorism, and that international law can be redeemed, and thus the world can get back to developing international law and order to protect international humanity and its prosperity.

The Israeli government must not be allowed to get away with violating international law with impunity. This not only allows tremendous suffering to continue, which is immoral, but it undermines international law in general by setting an example that it can be violated without receiving consequences. This undermines international law and order, and sets back the world to more dark, primitive times when the strong dominated the weak, and the individual suffered without recourse to assistance or justice.

Adalah: The Legal Center for Arab Minority Rights in Israel (www.adalah.org).

Avishai, Bernard. "The Tragedy of Zionism: Revolution and Democracy in the Land of Israel". Farrar Straus Giroux, New York, NY (1985).

"Defence (Emergency) Regulations". The Palestine Gazette, No. 1442. Published by the British Government, Palestine (Sept. 27, 1945).

Drury, Richard T. and Winn, Robert C. "Plowshares and Swords: The Economics of Occupation in the West Bank". Published by Beacon Press, Boston, MA (1992).

Elazar, Daniel J. "The Constitution of the State of Israel" Jerusalem Center for Public Affairs, Jerusalem, Israel (1993).

Hertzberg, Rabbi Arthur. "The Zionist Ideal: A Historical Analysis and Reader". Atheneum Publishing, New York (1959).

"Human Rights and the Rule of Law". Israel Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Jerusalem, Israel (1998).

"Israeli-Arab Reader", 5th Edition. Edited by Walter Laqueur & Barry Rubin. Published by Penguin Books, NYC (1991).

Jabareen, Hassan; Dalal, Marwan; Rosenberg, Rina & Bashara, Suhab. "Legal Violations of Arab Minority Rights in Israel". Adalah The Legal Center for Arab Minority Rights in Israel, Shfaram, Israel (1998).

Kretzmer, David. "The Legal Status of the Arabs in Israel". Series: Westview Special Studies on the Middle East. Westview Press, Boulder, CO (1990).

Kretzmer, David. "The Occupation of Justice: The Supreme Court of Israel and the Occupied Territories". SUNY Press, Albany, NY (2002).

"Laws of the State of Israel: Authorized Translation from the Hebrew". Government Printer, Jerusalem, Israel (1948-1987).

Lehn, Walter & Davis, Uri. "The Jewish National Fund". Kegan Paul International Ltd., London, UK (1988).

Levush, Ruth. "How to Conduct Research in Israeli Law". Law Library of Congress, Washington DC (1999?).

Morris, Benny. "Righteous Victims: A History of the Zionist-Arab Conflict, 1881-2001", 2nd Edition. Vintage Books, NY (2001).

Shehadeh, Raja. "Occupier's Law: Israel and the West Bank". Institute for Palestinian Studies, Washington D.C. (1985).

United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East Website - http://www.un.org/unrwa/index.html.

United States Central Intelligence Agency World Factbook website - www.cia.gov/cia/publications/factbook/index.html.

Return to TOP of this Page.

All constructive suggestions, questions, feedback are most welcomed - [email protected] !