Middle East

From the September 2002 issue of World Press Review (VOL. 49, No. 9)

Middle East

Israel: Beyond the Pale

Elisa Ben-Rafael
World Press Review correspondent
Jerusalem, Israel

After a week-long furor sparked by legislation deemed racist by a wide range of Israelis, the Cabinet reversed its decision to support the measure that would have paved the way for the creation of Jewish-only communities.

On July 7, the Cabinet had endorsed the legislation, introduced in the Knesset by Haim Druckman of the right-wing National Religious Party, which would have allowed the quasi-governmental Jewish Agency to allocate land exclusively to Jews that it holds in trust for the state of Israel. The bill—which was not supported by Labor Party ministers—sought to amend the Basic Law on state lands and laws regulating the Israel Lands Administration and the Jewish Agency. Its intention was to circumvent an earlier Supreme Court ruling banning discrimination against Arab citizens in land purchases through the Jewish Agency, which controls part of the 90 percent of Israeli land held by the state of Israel.

The Cabinet’s decision unleashed a tempest in the political establishment, with the left labeling it racism and the right declaring it a victory for Zionism. The initial vote—17 in favor and 2 opposed—prompted a rare moment of unity among the press, public figures, and the citizenry, who were swift to react against the proposed law. The phrase of the week might well have been: “When politicians fail, the public must step in.”

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On July 9, Ma’ariv’s editorial noted that Prime Minister Ariel Sharon was absent from the Cabinet session and added, “Ministers who opposed, or were due to oppose, mainly from the Labor Party, were absent, in a cowardly fashion, from the short discussion.” The editors predicted that if the bill became law, “It will be a...blight on all of us.”

Attorney General Elyakim Rubenstein was present at the meeting, although he is not a voting member of the Cabinet. Rubenstein tried to dissuade the ministers from accepting the bill. He was quoted by all Israeli media as saying: “There is no contradiction between striving to grant the Arabs equality as required by law and decency, and the fulfillment of Zionism.…Whoever wants to preserve Israel as a democracy and a Jewish state must strive to grant equality to the Arabs.” According to The Jerusalem Post (July 9): “Rubenstein’s position on Druckman’s bill was crucial to its future. Should the Knesset pass the law, and should anyone petition the Supreme Court sitting as the High Court of Justice challenging its legality, Rubinstein may refuse to defend the government in court, a decision whose importance would not be lost on the Supreme Court justices.”

Two influential former politicians and a host of private citizens joined Rubenstein. Benny Begin, a former Likud Party minister and son of the late Prime Minister Menachem Begin, broke the silence he has kept since leaving politics close to five years ago, and in a rare interview (for Reshet Bet IBA Radio and quoted in a July 10 article in Ma’ariv) condemned the cabinet’s decision: “On the cliff of these times against the background of this difficult security situation, unworthy decisions are taken, decisions that injure democracy and human rights.”

On July 9, Yediot Aharonot published a scathing opinion piece by former Meretz Party leader Shulamit Aloni in which she asked, “What is there between Ariel Sharon and democracy? Only the wrapping is democratic; the essence is racist.” She went on to say: “Today, when upward of 90 percent of the land in Israel belongs to the state, the head of the Likud Party is proposing that Arabs should be prevented from purchasing land. According to his method they [Israeli Arabs] should be placed in ghettos...just as was done to the Jews in Eastern Europe from the Middle Ages until the Enlightenment.”

Israeli Arab leaders, buoyed by the Jewish reaction, began considering a series of protests to torpedo the bill. A July 10 Jerusalem Post article quoted Abed Inbitawi, spokesman for the Israeli Arab leadership’s monitoring committee, which is composed of Arab members of Knesset, council heads, and prominent public figures, saying, “A racist bill like this should not be raised in the Knesset. It has no place in a democratic country.”

The only public support for the bill came from Hatzofeh and from National Religious Party head Effi Eitam. On July 10, Hatzofeh’s editors wrote: “While there is no doubt that Israeli Arabs must be treated with all the rules of Jewish morality and justice...any knowledgeable person knows that mixing the populations together will only deepen the tension...especially at this time, when most Israeli Arabs identify with the acts of Palestinian terror.”

On July 14, after a week of unrelenting outcries, the cabinet voted 22 to 3 to refer the bill to committee for study, effectively shelving the legislation.

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