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Last update - 22:30 24/05/2009
Israel moves closer to banning mourning of its independence
By Haaretz Service
Tags: Israeli Arabs 

Public commemoration of Israel's independence as a day of mourning could become a crime subject to prison penalty, should a bill approved on Sunday by a ministerial panel be brought to the Knesset and cabinet for vote.

The Ministerial Committee for Legislation on Sunday approved a preliminary proposal which would make it illegal to hold events or ceremonies marking Israel's Independence Day as a "nakba," or catastrophe.

Rather than holding barbecues and parades on Independence Day, Israeli Arabs and Palestinians usually take the day to commemorate the dispersal of Palestinians during the 1948 War of Independence.
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Palestinian refugees around the world and Israel's Arab citizens mark the Nakba on May 15, the day after the British mandate over Palestine ended in 1948. Nakba Day is often observed by the Arab population in Israel with marches through destroyed villages.

According to the bill, those found in violation could face up to three years in prison.

The ministerial approval is only a preliminary step and has no legal bearing yet. Before the proposal could become a law, it must first undergo Knesset approval and cabinet consideration.

The proposal was brought forth by MK Alex Miller, of Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman's Yisrael Beiteinu party.

"This is the first measure geared at stopping the organized incitement spread by the Islamic Movement and the Arab Higher Monitoring Committee within Israel's Arab population," Miller said following the vote. "Every democratic country has the right to defend itself, and that's exactly what the Israeli government has chosen to do today."

The panel's approval caused an uproar among Arab parties and those factions geared toward Arab-Jewish cooperation.

"Government validation of one historically uneducated MK's delusions only goes to demonstrate the putrid sewers into which the governmental has, very expectedly, descended," said Hadash Chairman Mohammed Barakeh of Miller's proposal.

"Commemoration of the Nakba, which will continue regardless of this bill, does not represent a threat to Israel's existence. It is a way to mend past injuries inflicted upon the Palestinian people."

"It isn't Israel which faces an existential threat over commemoration of the Nakba. The Nakba is the ultimate threat of the Palestinian people," added Barakeh.

"This bill belongs, as do others, in the trash. Laws cannot rewrite a history in which crimes against peoples were committed, including the Palestinian Nakba," he said.

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  • Lieberman's party proposes ban on Arab Nakba
  • Israeli Arabs mark 61st anniversary of Nakba
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      1.   wow 19:13  |  johnny rainbow 24/05/09
      2.   It`s not Holocaust denial but... 19:15  |  Colin Wright 24/05/09
      3.   oh dear, oh dear, FASCIST bill on the table 19:16  |  Mark B. 24/05/09
      4.   CANADIAN CJC 19:24  |  CHOSEN WORLD 24/05/09
      5.   Israel`s Policies. Completely contentious and odious. 19:28  |  Lou Medel 24/05/09
      6.   How democracy works 19:43  |  Peter 24/05/09
      7.   Johny rainbow of USof A. As an independent country Israels 19:44  |  Israeli Peacenik 24/05/09
      8.   Do Israeli`s prisons have enough room if over a million of 19:50  |  JustMe 24/05/09
      9.   Who needs Iran? 19:55  |  abigail 24/05/09
      10.   Israel fears: NAKBA=truth about Israel creation: war crimes 19:59  |  Historian 24/05/09
      11.   #Israeli Peacenik: Quite true, but the loudest cheers 20:00  |  Andreas 24/05/09
      12.   To Israeli Peacenik #8 `Johnny Rainbow` 20:01  |  Colin Wright 24/05/09
      13.   Chosen World, You are hiding your name. Why, CJC 20:06  |  Canadian Observer 24/05/09
      14.   Israeli Peacenik #8 20:10  |  Bryan 24/05/09
      15.   Israel is good at these little racist laws and I welcome them 20:10  |  Natallie Durson 24/05/09
      16.   Arabs should celebrate Israel`s independence.They took swampland 20:37  |  ks 24/05/09
      17.   Just what is Lieberman smoking? 20:42  |  Chris Linthwaite 24/05/09
      18.   A more realistic approach 20:50  |  Arie 24/05/09
      19.   They are mourning something else 20:51  |  fritz t. 24/05/09
      20.   You people are over-reacting! 21:00  |  Dan 24/05/09
      21.   Nakba - give me a break 21:09  |  Purple Canary 24/05/09
      22.   Don`t worry, it`s legal to say "Heil Sharon"... 21:32  |  BBSNews 24/05/09
      23.   Sickening. 21:33  |  Alaska 24/05/09
      24.   Mourning Israel`s independence 22:15  |  sh 24/05/09
      25.   Israel wants to ban mourning 04:05  |  WHG 25/05/09
      26.   No free speech in Israel 04:11  |  Jethro 25/05/09
      27.   To Israeli Peacenik 04:19  |  Alfred 25/05/09
      28.   #4 Canada respects freedom of speech, 04:39  |  Canadian 25/05/09
      29.   Nakba`s sole purpose is to spread hatred 04:50  |  Baruch Gold 25/05/09
      30.   61 years late 04:57  |  zisonist forever 25/05/09
      31.   Forget About Prison, Just Deport Them! 05:07  |  Heather Czerniak 25/05/09
      32.   Could Israel be more stupid? 05:11  |  Nathan 25/05/09
      33.   How an Arab Israeli who wants to observe nakba day should do it 05:24  |  jeremy 25/05/09
      34.   river 05:53  |  Yaacob 25/05/09
      35.   Nakba and Iran 06:07  |  Harold 25/05/09
      36.   The "Jewish blindfold" view of history? 06:46  |  Rod 25/05/09
      37.   Hard to imagine a more foolish strategy! 06:57  |  Rod 25/05/09
      38.   This should publicize the Nakba quite nicely..... 07:06  |  Hanna 25/05/09
      39.   Banning Nakba Day 07:36  |  Fredy Ross 25/05/09
      40.   Historian 07:45  |  Midwife 25/05/09
      41.   Yaacob in Toronto, Israelis belong in Israel... 07:46  |  BBSNews 25/05/09
      42.   Nakba is a legit celebration 08:10  |  No Dope 25/05/09
      43.   Haaretz: Resist the Censorship Button! 09:49  |  Yoav Ben Zakai 25/05/09
      44.   2nd try: if banned will go underground 12:08  |  Reuben Aaron 25/05/09
      45.   Lieberman, the bouncer from Moldova 12:30  |  john Spear 25/05/09
      46.   No one is banning you to remember Holocaust 12:50  |  Omar 25/05/09
      47.   Nakba #3 13:08  |  Lou 25/05/09
      48.   20 13:46  |  zionist forever 25/05/09
      49.   Must never be forgotton 14:24  |  Jan 25/05/09
      50.   Lucky Arabs 14:41  |  Mike from Boston 25/05/09
      51.   You just don`t get it. 15:38  |  jennifer 25/05/09
      52.   More thought control from the Zionist machine.... 16:01  |  Dutch 25/05/09
      53.   Being Unpatriotic Shouldn`t Be Criminalized In A Democracy (2nd) 17:01  |  Jeff Northridge 25/05/09
      54.   Absolutely contemptible 17:03  |  Aaron Levitt 25/05/09
      55.   Banning Nakb 19:58  |  yuval 25/05/09
      56.   #51, Aaron Levitt, I don`t think so 20:49  |  Bruce 25/05/09
      57.   Even none of my posts went through this particular 20:49  |  17 25/05/09
      58.   #44, Omar, Holocaust remembrance day 21:01  |  Bruce 25/05/09
      59.   This will be hard to ignore 21:11  |  Colin Wright 25/05/09
      60.   Nakba 21:18  |  Goon 25/05/09
      61.   Yuval - J-Nakba Day should be held the day before Yom Ha`atzma`ut 21:20  |  ZISD 25/05/09
      62.   Counter-Productive Absurdity 21:24  |  Vicki Gray 25/05/09
      63.   Outlawing the Nakba 21:26  |  Daphna 25/05/09
      64.   force them to be happy and learn their place in Israel 22:24  |  American in NY 25/05/09
      65.   nakba can be celebrated elsewhere 22:24  |  Connie 25/05/09
      66.   colin wright "really rub our noses" 22:24  |  harzion 25/05/09
      67.   This bill is excessive 02:39  |  Matthew_DC 26/05/09
      68.   American in NY 02:53  |  NY 26/05/09
      69.   Connie 02:54  |  NY 26/05/09
      70.   Yellow stars next? 03:16  |  gly 26/05/09
      71.   Anyone who commemorates should not be a citizen 03:26  |  David Teich 26/05/09
      72.   58: Bruce, German celebration days 03:26  |  Brian 26/05/09
      73.   GLY Actually Dhimmis were forced to wear yellow by Moslems 08:19  |  PETER SM 26/05/09
      74.   Take a step back and ask ourselves 08:35  |  dan 26/05/09
      75.   BRIAN who is stopping Arabs from having a Naqba day.364 days/year 08:52  |  PETER SM 26/05/09
      76.   #74 You are a disgrace, PETER SM 10:00  |  Johnboy 26/05/09
      77.   Connie, I fear you know little of the rest of the world 15:43  |  Rod 26/05/09
      78.   77: Rod, let`s see how much you know 00:37  |  David Teich 27/05/09
      79.   responses to Haaretz article 05:15  |  Mike Glaubman 27/05/09
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