Friday, July 20, 2007

A Racist Jewish State

The headline of this article is not mine but rather that of today's Ha'aretz editorial. And if a proposed law that just passed first reading (it requires two more votes to become law) is enacted, there will be no doubt that the defacto discrimination against Arabs that exists in Israel will become fully de-jure. The law will become a full partner in Jewish chavanism and in anti-Arab discrimination. The Apartheid State will have crossed over from the territories to Israel proper.

The Knesset plenum approved a bill Wednesday, in its preliminary reading, which calls for all lands under the Jewish National Fund (JNF) to be allocated to Jews only. The bill passed by a massive majority of 64 MKS to 16.

The bill, is geared to bypass a 2004 court ruling which annulled an Israel Lands Administration (ILA) policy that prevented Arabs from participating in bids to purchase land owned by the JNF.

As a result of the ruling, Attorney General Menachem Mazuz decided that all land managed by the ILA, including land owned by the Jewish National Fund, will be marketed without discrimination or limits including to non-Jews.

Hadash Chairman MK Mohammed Barakeh called the bill an "abominable legislation" and added that, "this is another expression of a series of racist laws that are series of racist laws that are passed every day in the state of the Jews. The Arab population won't accept the theft of their rights to the lands that have been expropriated from them for years."

In response to the bill, MK Ahmed Tibi (Ra`am-Ta`al) said "this is institutionalized Jewish racism and ethnic democracy that is raging against anything Arab."

The Meretz faction said that the government's support in the racist bill exposes its real face. "The Knesset is giving an excellent excuse for whoever is asking to represent Israel as an apartheid state which must be destroyed," said the party's statement.

The JNF directly controls 13% of the land of Israel. Most of this was land of Arabs who fled in 1948, and was subsequently purchased from the State of Israel. Its sister organization, the Israel Lands authority controls another approximately 70% of the land.

We should all hope and pray that the Knesset comes to its senses and rejects this terrible law. The result will be to Israel's everlasting shame.

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