Gilad Erdan: We must define Israel as a Jewish
state in our own laws before demanding it from others • Officials in
Ramallah confirm Palestinian Authority accepted as nonmember state party
to five U.N. conventions dealing with human rights.
"The State of Israel is a
Jewish and democratic state," says Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu
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Photo credit: AP  |
The firestorm sparked by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's pledge last week to promote legislation that would define Israel as the national home of the Jewish people has not yet abated.
On Sunday, Netanyahu explained to his cabinet
the motivation behind the legislation effort. "The State of Israel is a
Jewish and democratic state. The democratic aspect of our state is fully
manifested in our basic laws. We do this by granting equal rights to
every citizen in Israel. However," he said, "Israel's status as the
nation state of the Jewish people is not represented enough in our basic
laws, and that is what this proposed basic law seeks to change. It will
define the national right of the Jewish people to the State of Israel,
without harming the individual rights of any of Israel's citizens."
"Of course there are those who don't want
Israel to be defined as the nation state of the Jewish people. They just
want a Palestinian state to be established alongside us, and for Israel
to gradually become a binational state, Arab and Jewish, inside its
tiny borders. But I am saying one simple thing: You can't hold the
national stick at both national ends. You can't say that you want to
separate from the Palestinians to prevent a binational state, which
makes sense to a certain degree, while simultaneously sanctifying the
idea of a binational state," the prime minister went on to say.
"The State of Israel grants equal rights,
individual rights, in full to all its citizens, but it is the nation
state of one people only -- the Jewish people -- and no other people."
On Saturday, Homefront Defense Minister Gilad
Erdan also remarked on the new initiative, telling Channel 2's "Meet the
Press" that "we realize that before we demand that others recognize us
as a nation state of the Jewish people, we first need to anchor this
principle in Israel's own basic laws."
According to Erdan, the prime minister's
decision to promote this basic law was driven by "a deep desire to
safeguard the values of democracy and equality more than ever, now that
the [peace] talks have collapsed in large part due to Palestinian
refusal to recognize Israel as the nation state of the Jewish people."
This refusal was echoed in Italy last week
when Imam Raed al-Danna of Jerusalem's al-Aqsa Mosque spoke at an
Islamic conference, saying that Israel will soon "disappear," which will
allow the Palestinians to return to cities within the Green Line, such
as Haifa. Agriculture Minister Yair Shamir addressed the imam's comments
at a cultural event in Kfar Saba, saying, "We are building a country
for people who want to throw us into the sea."
Meanwhile, officials in Ramallah confirmed
that the Palestinian Authority has been accepted as a nonmember state
party to five U.N. conventions dealing with human rights.
At the same time, according to Hamas Deputy
Chairman Moussa Abu Marzouk, the possibility of Hamas dismantling its
military wing following reconciliation with the PA has not been raised.
Finance Minister Yair Lapid hinted to The Wall Street
Journal on Friday that he was not necessarily opposed to talks with
Hamas. "It's not like it didn't happen before," he told the paper. "The
PLO used to be a terror organization." Lapid later said he was
misquoted, adding, "I am against any negotiations with Hamas as long as
they refuse to accept the Quartet principles."
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