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A constitution is not a spin
By Israel Harel
Tags: constitution

At the opening of the winter session of the Knesset, the prime minister announced that the best gift the Knesset could give the country for its 60th year of independence was an agreed-upon proposal for a constitution. "And I stress - agreed upon." And indeed, as he put it, "For 60 years, we have not had an agreed-upon constitution, but rather a patchwork of basic laws."

And if there were a constitution, it is reasonable to assume that it would address a considerable part of the differences of opinion that are tearing the nation asunder: Core issues such as the identity and aims of the state; the rights of minorities; the obligation of the state as a Jewish state, to Jewish people who are not citizens (to act, for example, to save them in times of danger); allocating budgets and lands for Jewish settlement and promoting national-Zionist projects (which the High Court of Justice, in response to petitions from anti-Zionist bodies, rejects, as happened in the case of the Jewish National Fund); and of course, the structure of the judicial system, which today, since there is no constitution, has taken control of almost all systems of our lives.

Were there a constitution that would make clear - without any "buts", without apology and without offering the possibility of eroding the right, the identity and the ownership that the Jewish people have over their sole national state - the nation's determination to maintain a Jewish-Zionist state here in the way its visionaries and builders predicted, it is doubtful whether the Arab minority would reject - according to the documents published by its major institutions the past year - the existence of Israel as a Jewish state. The Jews' doubts about the justice of their path and the feelings of guilt that have enveloped them and which find expression, inter alia, in the proposed constitution that is acceptable also to Ehud Olmert, are gates of hope for the Arab revolt.
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A constitution is not merely a legal document. In most of the truly enlightened nations, it constitutes an identity card that expresses the basic values of the nation. Olmert's slogan "an agreed-upon constitution" - which adopts the spin and content of the proposal from the Israel Democracy Institute - cannot be agreed upon so long as it is based mainly on the heritage of former Supreme Court president Aharon Barak and ignores the basic principles that were formulated over dozens of generations, including those since the rise of Zionism. It is important that enlightened values that were formulated in the world over the last few generations be added to the constitution, but it must always be remembered that it is not for these that the Jewish state was established, but rather in order to put to full use the unique values of the Jewish people.

About a year ago, the prime minister announced that, from his point of view, there was only one proposal for a constitution, that is the "agreed-upon" constitution of the IDI. If that is "the agreed-upon" constitution to which he is aiming, then it has the same value as the agreements between him and Mahmoud Abbas. Just as the latter will never agree to forego the right of return (and even if Olmert agrees to this, there is not and there will not be agreement to this in Israel), so a considerable number of Jewish Knesset members will not be able to support a constitution that does not include, as in the proposal supported by Olmert, the principle that "Israel is the national home of the Jewish people." (Remarks opposing this paragraph, on the part of the representative of the IDI, and also the chairman of the Constitution, Law and Justice Committee of the Knesset, are recorded in the committee's minutes).

The Israel Democracy Institute is opposed to making the Declaration of Independence part of the constitution and is interested that it serve only as its prologue. It is not necessary to be a legal expert (Aharon Barak has already made it clear in a precedent-setting ruling that the Declaration of Independence does not carry judicial weight) or a political psychologist in order to understand why the initiators of the "agreed-upon" constitution are refusing to include in the constitution, inter alia, these two core paragraphs. Does Olmert imagine that the majority of the secular Zionist left, and certainly of the religious Zionist public, will support an ("agreed-upon") constitution from which are missing, quite intentionally, the Declaration of Independence or the core paragraph stating, "The State of Israel is the national home of the Jewish people"?

Olmert is opposed to the "patchwork" of basic laws. But the proposed constitution that he supports will eternalize these "patches of law" and make it possible for the High Court, this time via the constitution, to continue to behave like the moral, ideological and operative master of the state.

The state is indeed in need of a gift for its 60th birthday, and a constitution is indeed a worthy gift. But not the gift that is being cooked up by Olmert and his ideological guides.
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  1.   Our Constitution Is The Torah 11:07  |  Yishai Kohen 11/10/07
  2.   Not Israel`s `constitution` but... 11:34  |  Maureen Ann 11/10/07
  3.   reply to # 1 :seperate politics and religion 11:52  |  SJ 11/10/07
  4.   Torah - Quran 12:05  |  Anton 11/10/07
  5.   "Jewish state" or liberal democracy? 12:06  |  Ruth 11/10/07
  6.   Agree with Anton 12:13  |  Shahin 11/10/07
  7.   Reply to #3- jews don`t separate themselves from Judaism 12:17  |  Dani 11/10/07
  8.   $5,the Jewish state of Israel is a state of and for the Jews 12:30  |  Hastaroth 11/10/07
  9.   End of democracy 12:36  |  Jan Elshout 11/10/07
  10.   #7 Dani 12:39  |  Hastaroth 11/10/07
  11.   With Olmert& Co on the helm .. 12:47  |  Akram Zekaria 11/10/07
  12.   So what was the fuzz about senator McCain`s statement? 13:06  |  Mark B. 11/10/07
  13.   #2 13:11  |  Moshe 11/10/07
  14.   Anton you obviously know nothing about Judaism 13:13  |  Another Jew 11/10/07
  15.   ruth please stick to Rome. Israel is not for concordats. 13:16  |  Jewboy 11/10/07
  16.   Nr 8, yes but... 13:17  |  Ruth 11/10/07
  17.   The context of Maureen Anne 13:25  |  Yered Shmuel 11/10/07
  18.   "Constitution" 13:31  |  Choni Davidowitz 11/10/07
  19.   #12 13:54  |  Moshe 11/10/07
  20.   A "Jewish" state is inherently a racist state 14:12  |  Clickfool 11/10/07
  21.   # 20 - ClickTool 14:30  |  J K 11/10/07
  22.   moshe 14:39  |  realism 11/10/07
  23.   # 5 Ruth 14:41  |  Edith 11/10/07
  24.   To Clickfool 14:53  |  Gene 11/10/07
  25.   To ignorant Ruth from Italy 14:57  |  Gene 11/10/07
  26.   Jan Elshout 15:01  |  Gene 11/10/07
  27.   #20 the yellow streak is mentioning 57 muslim states 15:04  |  victor hardman 11/10/07
  28.   Was Olmert trying to be ironic? In a way he was 15:10  |  zmogus 11/10/07
  29.   clickfool why is an anglican state not racist? 15:25  |  Jewboy 11/10/07
  30.   #1, Yishai Kohen and Yesha`s conditional constitution 15:25  |  zmogus 11/10/07
  31.   No constitution yet, please 15:27  |  Tosefta 11/10/07
  32.   zmogus: The Torah Isn`t Conditional 15:47  |  Yishai Kohen 11/10/07
  33.   #25 15:49  |  Raffaele Ladu 11/10/07
  34.   Rights protectors 16:00  |  Israeli 11/10/07
  35.   Israel is the Jewish State. 16:06  |  Fortuna Benmayor 11/10/07
  36.   Anton communtes between Bonn and Ondarroa 16:09  |  Fortuna Benmayor 11/10/07
  37.   In the Middle East , land is better than paper 16:09  |  Chick 11/10/07
  38.   Take a look at Malaysia 16:14  |  Zvi 11/10/07
  39.   #25, Gene to Ruth and who is really ignorant 16:26  |  zmogus 11/10/07
  40.   Haaretz censored my kosher comment to Clickfool 16:29  |  Fortuna Benmayor 11/10/07
  41.   Hastaroth from Athens 16:35  |  American 11/10/07
  42.   #40, Fortuna Benmayor, please stop whining... 17:17  |  silvienne 11/10/07
  43.   Ruth: Religious states & governance 17:17  |  Zvi 11/10/07
  44.   jk 21 17:26  |  realism 11/10/07
  45.   # 20 Is England not an english state?... 17:27  |  Misha 11/10/07
  46.   Clickfoot-Jewboy. Jews without Jewish State-fish without water. 17:36  |  Akram Zekaria 11/10/07
  47.   #32, Yishai Kohen. Sure! Only the interpreters are. 17:40  |  zmogus 11/10/07
  48.   Perserverence of peace and tolerance 17:42  |  sharpinchitown 11/10/07
  49.   One nation state in 21st century? Lunacy 17:56  |  Greg 11/10/07
  50.   To Gene #26 18:25  |  Jan Elshout 11/10/07
  51.   #22 18:27  |  Moshe 11/10/07
  52.   To Silvienne # 42 your comment is the most offensive one. 18:30  |  Fortuna Benmayor 11/10/07
  53.   #9 NO SUCH THING 18:43  |  Fed Up 11/10/07
  54.   #7 to Dani response 18:52  |  sharpinchitown 11/10/07
  55.   For Victor Hardman/Paul Harris # 27 18:58  |  Clickfool 11/10/07
  56.   A "Jewish State" for "Who is a Jew "? 19:05  |  David 11/10/07
  57.   #27, victor hardman. Where do you stop or rather why don`t you? 19:06  |  zmogus 11/10/07
  58.   Thanks to Fortuna Benmayor # 40 19:11  |  Clickfool 11/10/07
  59.   #25 Gene 19:14  |  sharpinchitown 11/10/07
  60.   Earth to Fortuna Benmayor # 52 19:16  |  Clickfool 11/10/07
  61.   Response to Moshe #19 19:17  |  Mark B. 11/10/07
  62.   #52, Fortuna Benmayor to Silvienne 19:18  |  zmogus 11/10/07
  63.   #46, Akram Zekaria to Clickfool & Jewboy. 19:24  |  zmogus 11/10/07
  64.   #26 Gene 19:33  |  sharpinchitown 11/10/07
  65.   #57 zmogus 19:36  |  Labhras 11/10/07
  66.   Building THEOLOGICAL State 20:09  |  POP 11/10/07
  67.   Here`s my mate Labhhhhhras 20:29  |  Any name at all 11/10/07
  68.   A secular constitution is Israel`s assurance of security 20:31  |  A Lebanese 11/10/07
  69.   Clickfool #20 - then you`re not thinking hard enough 20:40  |  Polybios 11/10/07
  70.   #1, Yishai Cohen 20:53  |  Polybios 11/10/07
  71.   # 49 Don`t worry Greg, Israel is not in danger to become... 20:54  |  Misha 11/10/07
  72.   A Lebanese insight #68 20:59  |  Polybios 11/10/07
  73.   #67 any brain at all Harris/Hardhead. 21:03  |  Labhras 11/10/07
  74.   All the states in the world have a religious identity 21:13  |  Avi 11/10/07
  75.   #65, Labhras. A week ago I saw `victor h.` stumbling... 21:19  |  zmogus 11/10/07
  76.   Misha - "abiding by the jewish caracter"??? 21:29  |  Greg 11/10/07
  77.   #57 the bogus mogus and moral equivalence 22:06  |  victor hardman 11/10/07
  78.   an israeli constitution for the israelis 22:22  |  eliyho matz 11/10/07
  79.   To Jan Elshout 22:24  |  Gene 11/10/07
  80.   Christian USA???? 22:24  |  Greg 11/10/07
  81.   9 22:26