Palestinians in Israel (original) (raw)
Related papers
THE EMERGING RIGHT OF WEST BANK PALESTINIANS TO ISRAELI CITIZENSHIP
University of Pennsylvania Journal of International Law, Vol. 42(1), p. 1 , 2020
This Article explores a path in international law for recognizing the right of the Palestinian population of the West Bank to Israeli citizenship, based on the annexationist policies of Israel in the West Bank. The scope of the obligation of states to confer citizenship on individuals is determined by international human rights law (“IHRL”). The Article shows that a plausible reading of the IHRL treaty obligations of Israel suggests that it has a duty to grant citizenship to individuals born in its territory, who would otherwise be stateless, and that most West Bank Palestinians are currently considered stateless. Therefore, if a given area of the West Bank is considered to have become part of Israel, most Palestinians subsequently born in such territory are plausibly entitled to receive Israeli citizenship as a matter of treaty law. There also seems to be a broad, emerging right under customary international law of the residents of a territory acquired by a state to receive the citizenship of that state, regardless of whether or not they would otherwise be considered stateless. The West Bank is a territory under Israeli occupation, and annexation by an occupier of any part of the occupied territory violates international law. The Article argues, however, that the illegal annexation by Israel of an occupied territory would make that territory a part of Israel for the limited purpose of the right to citizenship, as an exception to the principle that illegal annexation is null and void. Hence, the existing and emerging IHRL obligations of Israel to grant citizenship to residents of territory acquired by Israel extend to Palestinians residing in areas of the West Bank illegally annexed by Israel. The Article argues further that, for the purpose of applying the norms of IHRL that concern the right to citizenship, the definition of annexation extends beyond formal annexation and encompasses de facto annexation as well. Annexation of occupied territory results from the occupier’s display of sovereignty in that territory, among other things, by settling its own population in the occupied territory. In view of the current spread of Israeli settlements across the West Bank, unless Israel removes, within a reasonable time period, many of these settlements, the entire territory of the West Bank may be considered to have been annexed, and the entire Palestinian population of the West Bank would have a strong claim to Israeli citizenship under an emerging norm of international law.
Some are More Equal than Others: Palestinian Citizens in the Settler Colonial Jewish State
Settler Colonial Studies Journal , 2020
This article aims to examine whether the passing of the Basic Law: Israel – the Nation State of the Jewish People represents a transformative moment in the history of the State of Israel, as some critics claim, that undermines the State’s unique democratic features precisely the principle of equality. In this respect, this paper aims to revisit the principle of equality as it is enshrined in the Declaration of the Establishment of the State of Israel and as it applies in practice, law and court rulings. Specifically, the article will explore how the principle of equality come to manifest itself in the relationship between the State and the Palestinian citizens in three key moments; first, a pre-State stage, in the making of the Declaration; second, a post establishment stage, in the granting of suffrage and citizenship rights; and third, in the aftermath of the 1992 ‘constitutional revolution’ with the passage of the Basic Law: Human Dignity and Liberty. The article argues that the Nationality Bill does not represent a transformative moment, it rather reflects a continuous process that stems from the Zionist colonial ideology in historic Palestine. Therefore, rather than transforming Israel into an undemocratic apartheid State as some critics argue, the Nationality Bill rather makes sure that the State of Israel cannot be easily transformed into the State of all its citizens
THE LEGAL STATUS OF ISRAELI-ARABS/PALESTINIANS IN ISRAEL
GNLU Law & Society Review, 2019
The authors argue for accommodating the interests of the Israeli-Arabs/Palestinians. Israel should strive to safeguard equal rights and liberties for all citizens notwithstanding religion, race, ethnicity, colour, gender, class or sexual orientation, and insisting that citizens have also duties to fulfil. Israel needs to strive for equality in housing, in municipal budgets, in allocation of resources; fight against racism, bigotry and discrimination, and introduce changes to accommodate interests of Israeli-Arabs/Palestinians so that citizens would "feel at home" in their own country. It is argued that delegates of the Arab/Palestinian minority should be represented, in accordance with their size in society, in the parliament and in the government. Symbols of the state should be accommodated to give expression to all citizens of Israel. Since Israel is defined as a Jewish and democratic state, there is a responsibility to embrace all Israeli citizens. In doing so, Israel does not negate the essence of its being Jewish. Furthermore, studies of all religions that exist in Israel should be made available.
Citizenship and the state in the Middle …, 2000
The invisibility of Israel's Palestinian citizens in the viewfinder of Israeli sociology is a well-known feature of the discipline's past, now thankfully eclipsed by a decade-long wave of research. (For a fuller discussion, see Rosenhek 1998). Traditionally guided by an implicit social map that defined the borders of "Israeli society" as synonymous with "Jewish society" (Kimmerling 1992), all but a handful of Jewish sociologists (notably Henry Rosenfeld and Sammy Smooha) treated the Arab minority as at most a footnote to the dominant Jewish text. Just as the Arab-Israeli conflict was seen largely as a matter for specialists on military and foreign-relations questions (Shafir 1996), so the study of the Arab citizenry of Israel was consigned mainly to the "orientalist" wing of the academy (Rabinowitz 1993). Insofar as sociologists or political scientists did become actively engaged, their principal interest was defined by the political concerns of the Jewish establishment: Why did so many Arabs reject the "Zionist parties" in favor of the Communists? What was the import of the sense of kinship that Arab citizens came to display in their relations with the Palestinians in the occupied territories? Might either of these trends portend challenges to Jewish dominance of Israeli territory and the Israeli state? (e.g. Rekhess 1989).
Israel's Nation-State Law Hierarchized Citizenship and Jew ish Supremacy
Critical Times, 2021
The principal vision of the Basic Law: Israel—The Nation-State of the Jewish People (the Nation-State Law) is premised on the rights and interests of the Jewish people in Israel and the world, and the disqualification of any values of inclusive citizenship guaranteeing the equal membership of Palestinian citizens of Israel (hereafter, '48 Palestinians). This is evident both in the Nation-State Law's articles and in the statements of the politicians who drafted and sponsored it. The exclusivity of rights in the “Land/State of Israel” is the central organizing principle of the Nation-State Law. Jews are deemed the sole people deserving national and collective rights. Furthermore, the law applies not only to the Jewish citizens of Israel but also to Jews from all parts of the world—regardless of the extent of their relationship, affiliation, or even desire to become part of this entity. Citizenship is thus reinvented as a transboundary ethnos that automatically subsumes Jews from across the world into an ethnoracially engineered reserve of potential citizens. Under the law, the state's guiding values and the legal rights it vouchsafes establish Jewish ethnoracism. This racism not only discriminates against Palestinians but refuses to recognize their existence. The law frames Palestinian land as an uninhabited space available for settlement.
Israel as an Ethnic Democracy: Palestinian Citizens and the Fight for Equal Rights
SSRN Electronic Journal, 2021
The litmus test for assessing the democratization of any given society is the status of its minorities. The more minorities are integrated into society and receive equal treatment, respect and concern, the more egalitarian and just it will become. Presently Israel is severely criticized by foes and friends for its treatment of its Palestinian citizens. This criticism is warranted. This paper calls for the implementation of comprehensive egalitarian policies. It is argued that Israel should strive to accommodate the interests of the Palestinian citizens and grant them de facto equal citizenship rights.
The Israeli Nationality Law – A Blueprint for a 21st Century Settler Colonial State
2019
The author argues that the ‘New’ Israeli Nationality Law is, despite its name, a natural, almost inevitable, product of the Zionist project in Palestine. Besides representing Zionist ideology, the law is part of a long-term attempt by the Israeli government to adjust Zionism to present-day realities and solve the so-called ‘demographic problem’ of the Jewish State.