Challenging the Old Lie: Israel is Not a Democracy By Rami Demirdjian. (U-WIRE) MEDFORD, Mass. -- "Every Arab in Palestine who had left his town or village after Nov. 29, 1947, was liable to be classified as an absentee under the regulations.... The 30,000 Arabs who fled from one place to another within Israel, but who never left the country were also liable to have their property declared absentee. Any individual who may have gone to Beirut or Bethlehem for a one day visit during the latter days of the [British] mandate was automatically an absentee" Don Peretz's Israel and the Palestine Arabs: It seems that the acts of discrimination are an inherent element of Israeli legislation. In 1950, the Knesset legislated the two most important laws in the state of Israel: the "Law of Return" and the "Absentees' Property Law." The first law allows the right to any Jew to immigrate, to settle in Israel, and to receive citizenship. Through the second law, the overwhelming majority of the Palestinian Arab residents of the territories under Israel's sovereignty (pre-1967 border), is denied its right to property in Israel. These laws were instituted to alienate Arab land and property owners. It is through these non-democratic laws that the apartheid system -- one that is strikingly similar to South Africa's pre-Mandela, white supremacist regime -- was legislated in Israel. The legislation of Israel is therefore based upon theocratic or racial qualifications. Moreover, in 1960, the Knesset enacted the "Basic Law." This particular law grants the Jewish National Fund (JNF) the right to define what the state land is. The constitution of the JNF clearly stipulates the inalienable right of the Jews to the land, the ability of a Zionist settler to lease to no one but a Jew, and that only Jewish workers may be employed in Zionist colonies. This law brings another racist dimension to the problem: not only are the Palestinian people robbed of their land and property, as the "Absentees' Property Law" allows, they also lose the chance of being employed on this land. Following the logic of these laws, Israel is far from being "the only democracy in the Middle East," as its defenders claim. They should therefore stop shouting the old lie because a large number of human beings, namely the Palestinians, are simply not being treated equally. Netanyahu's administration continues to follow the Zionist tradition of the dispossession of Palestinian property and livelihood and the illegal settlements on Palestinian land. How dare, and under which assumption of superiority, can Sharon and the state of Israel treat other human beings as slaves of a racist system that forbids the Palestinian people to live on a land that belongs to them? A peace treaty cannot follow when the Palestinians are still not considered as equal human beings and when Israel continues its illegal settlement policies. A viable peace treaty must involve the concept of equality. If Israel wants to enjoy peace with its Arab neighbors, it must first accept Arabs as equal human beings, learn to respect them, and not foolishly try to get all the "security" and "economic" benefits of "peace" without giving something in return.
Remember, America also called herself a democracy during slavery. We look back in every history class at a 227-year-old "democracy" and downplay 120 years of slavery along with the lingering effects of which we still have not emerged from. America and Israel have so very much in common.
Proud_Syrian, You forgot to mention that Palestinians in the occupied territories aren't allowed to vote in the Israeli elections even though Israel considers the occupied territories as a part of Israel. This fact is extremely important since all other rights are derived from the right to vote.
