Israel was founded in 1948 both as the Jewish homeland, and as a democracy. Therein lies the fundamental contradiction of Israel`s existence: a nation affording a degree of preferential treatment to one class (admittedly the vast majority) of its citizens, and yet practising egalitarian rule of law for all?
A very difficult trick to pull off. The closest historical parallel I can see is the founding of Czech-Slovakia. It was established as an affirmation of Czech and Slovak ethnic self-determination, but had a sizeable German minority which did not share the same nationallist aspirations.
Well, we all know how *that* turned out ... first with the Sudeten Germans, and much later on between the Czechs and Slovaks themselves.
Unfortunately, history, with its ethnic population exchanges and nations established on strict ethnic lines, seems to be on the side of Mr Lieberman.
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