Democratic Palestine : 45 (ص 18)
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- عنوان
- Democratic Palestine : 45 (ص 18)
- المحتوى
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In order to make the relevant distinction between
citizenship, nationality and religion, and in order to posit this
distinction as a cornerstone for a moral, intellectual and
political opposition struggle inside and outside the State of
Israel, it is necessary to maintain a consistent conceptual and
linguistic distinction between the relevant political regime (the
State of Israel) and the relevant political territory (the land of
Palestine).
In the bi— national and Zionist State of Israel today, some
85% of the Palestinian Arab people are defined under Knesset
legislation as not human beings (Absentees) and/or as subjects
of a military occupation regime; 15% of the Palestinian Arab
people are citizens of the State of Israel who are subject to
apartheid legislation; 92% of the territory under Israeli
sovereignty in the 1948-1967 boundaries are reserved for
settlement, development and lease to such of the inhabitants of
the state as are recognised by law as Jews only.
On the basis of the ideological assumptions of political
Zionism, a state of Israel that is bi— national and democratic
is a contradiction in terms. The aim of political Zionist
ideology and practice is to guarantee a Jewish demographic
majority in the State of Israel. A state of Israel that is
bi—national and democratic, and is not based on the
ideological assumptions of political Zionism, must oppose any
aspiration to guarantee a demographic majority of any kind
whatsoever, let alone Jewish demographic majority. In a state
of Israel that is bi— national and democratic all inhabitants are
Israeli citizens. Some are of Palestinian — Hebrew nationality
and some are of Palestinian — Arab nationality. The religion of
the inhabitants (Palestinian Hebrews and Arabs) is Christian,
Muslim, Jewish or no religion. Such a state of Israel is in the
view of this author a fiction, and does not, therefore, have a
future of separate existence, and definitely not in the long term.
It is destined to unite with a State of Palestine that is
bi— national and democratic, and one can only hope that such
re — union will take place through a political process analogous
to the process of reunification of Germany.
In 1988 the Palestine National Council (PNC) declared the
establishment of the State of Palestine subject to the UN
Charter and UN Partition Resolution of 1947. On the basis of
the political and ideological assumptions of the Palestinian
Declaration of Independence, a State of Palestine that is
bi — national and democratic, either in the boundaries allocated
by the UN Partition Plan of 1947 alongside the State of Israel
or in the borders of the territories of Mandate Palestine, is not a
contradiction in terms and is, therefore, not a fiction but a
relevant political possibility indeed.
In a State of Palestine that is bi— national and democratic
all inhabitants are Palestinian citizens. Some are of
Palestinian— Hebrew nationality and some _ are _ of
Palestinian — Arab nationality. The religion of the inhabitants
(Palestinian Hebrews and Arabs) is Christian, Muslim, Jewish
or no religion.
The President of the State of Palestine is the Chairman of
the PLO, Yasir Arafat and the office of the president ordered
the establishment of a Registry Department to register the
Palestinian population and issue Palestinian identity cards and
family books. A facsimile of a Palestinian identity card is
reproduced below. The official translator of the identity card
made an error in the English translation of the category of
citizenship (jinsiyya in Arabic). The correct translation is
«citizenship» not «nationality». Also the official designer of
the document made an error and designed the document with
the religious emblem of two of the three monotheistic religions
relevant to Palestine (church and mosque — synagogue is
lacking). An identity card is a secular document and one ought
18
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not decorate it with any religious symbols whatsoever. These
errors can be corrected when the Palestinian Constituent
Assembly is convened and the State of Palestine established in
fact on the territory of the land of Palestine. But this
document, its deficiencies notwithstanaing, also testifies to the
democratic superiority of the Palestinian perspective. A State
of Palestine that is bi—national and democratic is not a
contradiction in terms. And it is possible even today to issue a
Palestinian identity card to a person who is of dual Israeli and
British citizenship, of Palestinian — Hebrew nationality and of
Jewish religion.
Dr. Uri Davis, Honorary Research Fellow in Palestine Studies,
Department of Politics, University of Exeter, UK; Director,
Jerusalem and Peace Service consultancy office on the question
of Palestine, London; Director, Ithaca Press, publishers of
books on the Middle East. Uri Davis began his political career
in the struggle against the confiscation of the lands of Deir
el— Asad, Bi’na and Nahf in the Galilee and against the
establishment of Karmiel as an exclusively Jewish city on these
lands. In 1984 he was invited by the Chairman of the PLO and
the President of the State of Palestine, Yasir Arafat, as the
guest of the Palestine National Council (PNC), and he is since
an observer — member at the PNC. His citizenship is Israeli and
British, his nationality is Palestinian — Hebrew, his religion is
JewisE. Uri Davis is a founding member of the RETURN group
(«Against the Israeli Law of Return — For the Palestinian
Right to Return») and the RETURN Magazine Editorial
Collective. @
Democratic Palestine, August 1991 - هو جزء من
- Democratic Palestine : 45
- تاريخ
- أغسطس ١٩٩١
- المنشئ
- الجبهة الشعبية لتحرير فلسطين
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