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Adalah Petition to Israel's High Court of Justice Proposed Basic Law: Israel—The Nation State of the Jewish People

2020; Indiana University Press; Volume: 25; Issue: 3 Linguagem: Inglês

10.2979/israelstudies.25.3.20

1527-201X

Adalah,

Jewish and Middle Eastern Studies

Adalah Petition to Israel's High Court of Justice Proposed Basic Law:Israel—The Nation State 7 August, 2018 Translated by Adalah HCJ 5866/18 In the Supreme Court Sitting as the High Court of Justice Petitioners 1. The High Follow-up Committee for Arab Citizens in Israel 2. The National Committee of Arab Mayors 3. The Joint List in the Knesset 4. Adalah—The Legal Center for Arab Minority Rights in Israel by Attorneys Hassan Jabareen and/or Suhad Bishara and/or Mysanna Morany and/or Fady Khoury and/or Sawsan Zaher Versus Respondents 1. The Knesset 2. Attorney General Petition for an Order Nisi A petition is hereby filed in which the Honorable Court is requested to issue an order nisi directed at the Respondents ordering them to show cause as to why the Basic Law: Israel–The Nation-State of the Jewish People should not be nullified. Table of Contents I. INTRODUCTION II. THE BASIC PREMISES OF THE PETITION III. ARTICLE 1: ETHNIC SUPREMACY AND CONTROL IV. WHO IS A CITIZEN? SEPARATE TRACKS TO CITIZENSHIP V. SEPARATE LANGUAGE TRACKS AND EXCLUSIONARY COLLECTIVE RIGHTS ARRANGEMENTS [End Page 229] VI. ARTICLE 7: RACIAL DISCRIMINATION IN ALLOCATION OF LAND, HOUSING, PLANNING AND BUDGETING 1. The Scope of Article 7's Implications in Israel 2. The Implications of Article 7 for the West Bank 3. Reinstating Discrimination and Nullifying the Qa'adan Ruling 4. "Jewish Settlement" in Practice 5. Chapter Summary VII. THE DOCTRINE OF "UNCONSTITUTIONAL CONSTITUTIONAL AMENDMENT" 1. Summary of Violations Caused by the Basic Law 2. Applying the Doctrine to the Nation-State Basic Law 3. Comparative Law European Court of Human Rights India Colombia Austria VIII. ABUSIVE EXERCISE OF KNESSET'S CONSTITUENT POWER 1. Illegitimate Purposes 2. Lack of Legitimacy 3. Procedural Flaws: Lack of Proper Deliberation I. INTRODUCTION 1. On 19 July 2018, the Knesset passed the Basic Law: Israel—The Nation-State of the Jewish People (hereinafter: the Nation-State Basic Law or the Basic Law). 2. The Basic Law states that the "Land of Israel" is the historical homeland of the Jewish people; the State of Israel is the nation-state of the Jewish people, and the realization of national self-determination in the State of Israel will be exclusive to the Jewish people; immigration leading to automatic citizenship is exclusive to Jews; "Greater and united Jerusalem is the [End Page 230] capital of Israel"; Hebrew is the official language of the state, and Arabic will have special status; the State will act to encourage, consolidate and promote Jewish settlement; the national anthem is "Hatikvah"; the flag is the Israeli flag [a prayer shawl]; Independence Day is a national holiday; the Hebrew calendar is an official calendar of the state; the official memorial days and holidays are Zionist-Jewish holidays; and the state will work to foster ties with Diaspora Jewry. 3. This Basic Law sets forth and comprises the constitutional identity of the regime. It determines the identity of the sovereign, its will and its goals. Therefore, the effect of this Basic Law on the constitutional regime will be broad and comprehensive. A comparative survey of national constitutions reveals that today there is no democratic constitution in the world that designates the regime as serving only one ethnic group. The historical-legal review shows that states that have grounded the meaning of "We, the People" in ethnic and exclusionary terms, have turned the dispossession, oppression and degradation of the natives into policy. 4. The Basic Law's overriding objective is to violate both the right to equality and the right to dignity. It is no coincidence that proposals to ground the principle of equality in the Basic Law were rejected. In essence, the principle of non-discrimination is irrelevant, because, from the outset, Arabs and Jews are not equal under the Basic Law's constitutional regime. Therefore, discrimination on the grounds of Jewish separation and supremacy is reflected in all articles of the Law. For example, although the Basic Law applies to a very large Arab population within the Green Line, it states that only Jews are citizens or potential citizens; and the Basic Law assigns exclusive collective rights to the Jewish majority as...