To ensure that the Jewish nature of Israel remains intact, the Israeli government has recently passed five laws that aim to decrease the quality of life and the number of Arab citizens in Israel. According to Jamal Zahalka, general director of the Ahali Center for Community Development in Nazareth, Israel is suffering a demographic phobia and the new laws are a reflection of the current political atmosphere controlling the country.

“The demographic issue has become a dangerous one for Israel. Israel is afraid of the national influence its Palestinian citizens may have on the state,” Zahalka said at a 10 June 2002 Palestine Center (Palestine Center) briefing. Zahalka argued that in the process of maintaining its Jewish nature, Israel has passed discriminatory laws against the Palestinian citizens who make up 20 percent of the population. At the same time, Israel is publicly debating three political “solutions” to rid itself of the Palestinian residents of the Occupied Territories.

The first of the discriminatory laws analyzed by Zahalka is the family reunification law. The Israeli government voted to halt the processing of all family reunification applications. The law stipulates that any Israeli citizen who marries a Palestinian from the Palestinian Authority (PA) areas or someone of Palestinian origin will not be allowed to petition Israel for Israeli citizenship on behalf of his/her spouse. As a result, hundreds of Arab families are kept apart.

Under a National Insurance Law, Israel voted for a 25 percent cut in child allowance for families without a member serving in the army. This comes after a February vote to decrease the allowance by 12 percent. Ninety percent of Arabs do not serve in the Israeli army. In all, Arab families were slapped with a 37 percent cut in child allowances. Some 52 percent of Arab children already live under the poverty line. Although the law also applies to religious Jews and new immigrants who do not serve in the army, Zahalka argued that these groups are unaffected since they are compensated by the Israeli Ministry of Religious Affairs and the Jewish Agency. While Jews are given financial incentives to have children, Arabs are feeling the financial burden of having children.

The Incitement Law forbids Arabs in Israel from supporting or sympathizing with the Palestinians in the Occupied Territories who are resisting the Israeli occupation. Under this law, anyone who supports acts of violence or terror against Israel will be sentenced to five years in prison. Anyone caught with material considered hostile to Israel can be sentenced to one year in prison. Zahalka described the law as a constraint on freedom of speech. Such a law will have a major impact on any attempt by Israeli citizens to challenge the government’s military occupation of the Palestinian territories.

The fourth law Zahalka analyzed is the “Azmi Bishara” law. Named after an Arab Member of Knesset (MK) whose immunity was lifted to allow his prosecution for making political statements in Syria—a state Israel considers an enemy—that were unfavorable toward Israel, this law is designed to prevent an MK from visiting an enemy state. According to Zahalka, Jordan and Egypt, the only two Arab states with which Israel has peace agreements, are listed along with Syria, Iraq, Lebanon, Libya, Algeria, and Yemen—all Arab states where relatives of Arab Israeli citizens live—as enemy states.

The fifth and most dangerous law, in Zahalka’s opinion, is the election law. Any person or party that directly or indirectly denies that Israel is a democratic Jewish state and a state for the Jews will be barred from running for the Knesset. The decision to allow a party to run for the Knesset is left in the hands of an election committee.

Zahalka believes that since the assassination of former Israeli Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin in November 1995, the “liberalization process” in Israel has declined. Israel is moving away from peace with the Palestinians and toward peace among Jews. This has led to discriminatory laws against the Palestinian citizens of Israel and has had a huge impact on Palestinians living in the Occupied Territories.

Zahalka described Israeli political discourse on the Palestinians of the Occupied Territories as revolving around three main ideas: separation, apartheid, and transfer. Transfer, once a marginal issue, is now openly debated on Israeli national television and has become part of the mainstream discourse. Politicians openly discuss the means of transferring the Palestinians out of the territories. Peace, Zahalka argued, has become a marginal issue in Israeli politics.

Separation has become the “most popular word in Israel.” Israel’s motivation for separation is driven by its desire to maintain its Jewish nature, not from a conviction that Palestinians have a right to statehood and independence. There are three Israeli understandings of separation. For some it is a withdrawal to the 5 June 1967 borders, for others it is territorial compromise, and still others see it as a unilateral separation with a fence sealing the West Bank off from Israel.

An apartheid system has already taken shape. Zahalka pointed out that Israel has even now divided the West Bank and the Gaza Strip into several cantons and requires Palestinians to carry permits allowing them to travel between those cantons.

“These laws and the current discourse represent the current atmosphere in Israel,” Zahalka declared. Israel is not ripe for a just peace.

The above text is based on remarks delivered on 10 June 2002 by Jamal Zahalka. The speakers’ views do not necessarily reflect those of the Center for Policy Analysis on Palestine or The Jerusalem Fund. This “For the Record” may be used without permission but with proper attribution to the Palestine Center. To contact Rishmawi, write to ahali_center@hotmail.com.

This information first appeared in “For the Record” No. 116, 11 June 2002.