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Last update - 21:57 29/06/2008 Citizenship law makes Israel an apartheid state By Amos Schocken Tags: citizenship law The government's decision last week to extend the validity of the Citizenship Law (Temporary Order), for another year, is evidence that the legal barriers preventing severe discrimination against Israel's Arab citizens and harm to their civil rights have been removed. This extension is the eighth since the law was first passed in 2003, and it shows just how naive Justice Edmond Levy's position was when he refused to join in the 2006 decision by five judges from the High Court of Justice, who stated that the law was unconstitutional, that it contravened the Basic Law on Human Dignity and Freedom, and that it must be removed from the law books. Levy explained his refusal by saying that he saw no need to intervene because only two months remained until the law expired. However, at the end of the two months, the law was extended by a year, and now they want to extend it for yet another year. Had Levy known that the law's limited validity was nothing but a deception aimed at preparing a discriminatory and unconstitutional law, there is no doubt he would have joined the five justices' majority opinion that it was unconstitutional and should be removed. We must hope that the High Court of Justice, when it rules on the new petition submitted against the law after it was extended in 2006, will take into account that the term "temporary provision," which both the government and Knesset take pains to stress, is a deception. We are talking about, in effect, a permanent law. Advertisement The law stipulates that the interior minister does not have the authority to approve residence in Israel for a resident of Judea and Samaria (unless, of course, they are Jews - that is, settlers). This is so even regarding family reunions, meaning marriage, when it comes to Palestinian spouses who are younger than 35 (for men) or 25 (for women). In effect, the law prevents young Israeli citizens from marrying the spouse of their choice and living with this spouse in Israel, if the spouse is a Palestinian from Judea and Samaria. It is obvious that this has barely any effect on the right of young Israeli Jews to live in their country with the spouse of their choice, because there are hardly any marriages between Israeli Jews and Palestinians from Judea and Samaria. On the other hand, these Palestinians constitute Israeli Arabs' natural pool for choosing a spouse. For this reason, the law severely discriminates when comparing the rights of young Israeli Jewish citizens and young Israeli Arab citizens. When the law was first passed in 2003, supposedly as a temporary one-year measure, it was accompanied by security reasoning - the risk of implanting terrorists in Israel via marriage. The reasoning was faulty even at that time: Every Palestinian who wishes to enter Israel must be addressed individually. It is the Shin Bet security service's task to do this and thus carry out its mission - protecting the security of Israel's citizens such that the country remains democratic, with equal rights for all. However, as the years go by, it becomes clear that the security argument and the term "temporary measure" are merely a deception aimed at "koshering" discriminatory legislation for demographic reasons. The claim that there are characteristics of an apartheid state in Israel is widely heard in the Western world. The word apartheid is catchy and understood in many parts of the world, which makes it useful to send a message that we resent and which we claim has no connection with reality in Israel. However, we do not need to replicate exactly the characteristics of South African apartheid within discriminatory practices in civil rights in Israel in order to call Israel an apartheid state. The amendment to the Citizenship Law is exactly such a practice, and it is best that we not try to evade the truth: Its existence in our law books turns Israel into an apartheid state. The government decided to add the Gaza Strip to the list of countries for which the interior minister does not have the prerogative to approve residence in Israel on the grounds of family reunions, regardless of age. Both the list and the new addition are superfluous and harmful. Since Hamas gained control, no one enters or leaves Gaza anyway, and the new restriction harms couples' cases from the time when there was passage between Israel and Gaza. There is no need for this affront. Bookmark to del.icio.us   Terror in the capital A Palestinian rammed his bulldozer into a bus in Jerusalem, killing three. Poetic injustice Palestinian poet Mahmoud Darwish blends sarcasm and hope in his latest work.   1.   Apartheid is apartheid is apartheid 02:06  |  betz55 27/06/08   2.   So As Not To Be Extinct 03:37  |  Tod Zuckerman 27/06/08   3.   simple rule 04:49  |  potobac 27/06/08   4.   Another ignorant apologist whines 12:24  |  David Teich 27/06/08   5.   amos schocken owner of haaretz 13:14  |  judea 27/06/08   6.   WHO can say that there is no APARTHEID in Israel and WestBank. 13:17  |  Suleyman 27/06/08   7.   "behold a people that dwells apart 13:17  |  judea 27/06/08   8.   the jews have tried living with gentiles for two thousand years 13:19  |  judea 27/06/08   9.   david teich 5 13:19  |  potobac 27/06/08   10.   potobac "hypocrisy anyone" 13:24  |  judea 27/06/08   11.   The Rogue State is an Aparheid State 13:34  |  Labhras 27/06/08   12.   Twisting words and throwing Israel under the bus 13:35  |  Denise Thompson 27/06/08   13.   arab apartheid 13:41  |  peter 27/06/08   14.   #4 David Teich read the article again 14:12  |  Labhras 27/06/08   15.   I`m looking for.............. 14:37  |  Hastaroth 27/06/08   16.   Labhras # 5 How Could That Be? 14:43  |  Jeff Northridge 27/06/08   17.   The article tells us nothing about the law 14:57  |  Margie in Tel Aviv 27/06/08   18.   Betz Verwoerd died looooong before this law was enacted 14:58  |  Margie in Tel Aviv 27/06/08   19.   Here`s a quiz: What town says NO ....(religion)..... ALLOWED ? 15:05  |  Margie in Tel Aviv 27/06/08   20.   Simple Solution 15:13  |  John 27/06/08   21.   10% of "Israeli" pals involved in terror are those "reunited" 15:21  |  Absolute Sweden 27/06/08   22.   learn to spell, then learn to think 15:26  |  david d 27/06/08   23.   #10 Judea 15:32  |  John 27/06/08   24.   Margie, Air Haaretz 15:33  |  FOX 27/06/08   25.   Suleyman # 6 The Keyword Is "Pals" 15:34  |  Jeff Northridge 27/06/08   26.   The reason was always demographics 15:34  |  Tosefta 27/06/08   27.   Poor margie in TA 15:39  |  Conversations 27/06/08   28.   Margie in Tel Aviv # 19 Mecca, Saudi Arabia 15:50  |  Jeff Northridge 27/06/08   29.   #1 and your ooinion on apatheid 15:50  |  John Allen 27/06/08   30.   #11 All equal to the same laws? 15:58  |  John Allen 27/06/08   31.   #12 We have the same problems here. 16:12  |  John Allen 27/06/08   32.   Welcome to the Nurnberg 2008 Racial Purity Law 16:13  |  Wiktor 27/06/08   33.   Schocken, heir to post-Zionist rag Haaretz, spews hate again 16:13  |  Emery 27/06/08   34.   No. 8 Judea 16:14  |  Steve 27/06/08   35.   #27 Marge 16:15  |  John Allen 27/06/08   36.   Fox, stay with the facts - not the personalities. 16:19  |  Wiktor 27/06/08   37.   #20 And the Arab women who want marry Jewish men? 16:27  |  Aphemia 27/06/08   38.   judea #8 etc 16:37  |  davidm 27/06/08   39.   #11 labarse of arabia and the irish protestants 16:42  |  victor hardman 27/06/08   40.   Citizenship law makes Israel an apatheid state? 16:43  |  David Nigel Braham 27/06/08   41.   Tosefta # 26 So What? 16:49  |  Jeff Northridge 27/06/08   42.   Howdy Jeff there are so many possibilities: I meant Ramallah! 16:50  |  Margie in Tel Aviv 27/06/08   43.   Conversations 16:52  |  Margie in Tel Aviv 27/06/08   44.   Thank you John Allen 17:03  |  Margie in Tel Aviv 27/06/08   45.   Amos, set an example and give up your citizenship 17:04  |  Herbert Kaine 27/06/08   46.   completely correct, Israel IS apartheid 17:11  |  mehmet 27/06/08   47.   no other nation in europe begs like ireland 17:11  |  papalbull 27/06/08   48.   Margie and Cultural Diversity 17:15  |  RWood 27/06/08   49.   quizzing 17:17  |  meh 27/06/08   50.   #17 MA IN ta ex SA Fake Olive branch founder 17:22  |  Labhras 27/06/08   51.   RWood 17:25  |  Margie in Tel Aviv 27/06/08   52.   Mehmet - recent Harvard poll 17:50  |  David Israel 27/06/08   53.   wiktor probably the ugliest name on the site 17:57  |  amos 27/06/08   54.   #36, Wiktor...FOX 17:58  |  Silvienne 27/06/08   55.   #50, Labhras...did you know... 17:59  |  Silvienne 27/06/08   56.   11 18:04  |  zionist forever 27/06/08   57.   #51 Margie from South Africa on her second apartheid 18:08  |  Labhras 27/06/08   58.   Margie and Outlandish Remarks 18:08  |  RWood 27/06/08   59.   Suleyman - from Istanbul 18:17  |  David Israel 27/06/08   60.   they don`t know how they hate jews 18:37  |  Robert 27/06/08   61.   Silvienne`s `logic` : #55 18:39  |  x-ray 27/06/08   62.   Wiktor, you are guilty #36 19:27  |  FOX 27/06/08   63.   Why does this surprise anyone! israel does not have a 20:01  |  lakshmi 27/06/08   64.   Did you understand the article? (Jeff Northridge #41) 20:06  |  Tosefta 27/06/08   65.   Lakshmi, how about? 20:08  |  Tulip 27/06/08   66.   Lakshmi 20:11  |  x-ray 27/06/08   67.   Israel is Jewish homeland, not Arab homeland 20:24  |  Jack Garbuz 27/06/08   68.   Lakshami (#63) The answer is simple 20:26  |  Gil 27/06/08   69.   #8.judea.Do have your state created 4 U, 1947, but leave OURS 20:33  |  Ben Cassim 27/06/08   70.   My sympathies to the right wing family of the Tosefta 20:35  |  x-ray 27/06/08   71.