By Jack Khoury and Dana Weiler-Polak, Haaretz – 21 March 2010
www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/1157857.html
The current Knesset is the most racist Israeli parliament since the country’s founding, according to a report published Sunday by the Coalition Against Racism and the Mossawa Center, which works to promote equality for the Palestinian citizens of Israel.
According to the report, published to mark International Day for the Elimination of Racial Discrimination, the number of laws that discriminate against Arab citizens proposed in the current Knesset bypassed all previous years, increasing by 75 percent.
“There has never been a Knesset as active in proposing discriminating and racist legislation against the country’s Arab citizens,” said the report’s authors Lizi Sagi and Nidal Othman.
The report alleges that the proposed legislation seeks to de-legitimize Israel’s Arab citizens by decreasing their civil rights. The report’s data show that in 2008 there were 11 bills defined as racist presented to the Knesset while in 2009 there were 12 such bills.
In 2010, the report’s authors claim, there were no less than 21 bills proposed that included discriminatory elements against the country’s Arab citizens.
The report alleges that the proposed legislation seeks to de-legitimize Israel’s Arab citizens by decreasing their civil rights. The report’s data show that in 2008 there were 11 bills defined as racist presented to the Knesset while in 2009 there were 12 such bills.
In 2010, the report’s authors claim, there were no less than 21 bills proposed that included discriminatory elements against the country’s Arab citizens.
Moreover, the report says, MKs who hold right-wing views implement them unhindered via proposed legislation. In many cases, MKs attempt to propose laws that would bypass Israeli law as written by the Supreme Court in order to reach coalition agreements. Bills that are illegal often undergo cosmetic changes and then get passed, the report said.
It added that some coalition members openly attempt to harm Arab citizens’ rights, try to separate Israeli Jews and Arabs and even call for the expulsion of the country’s Arab population.
In addition, the report claims, Israel discriminates against its Arab population by offering benefits to citizens who serve in the army or do national service.
Among the proposed legislation mentioned in the report is a bill that would jail for a year anyone who publishes or says something that would “bring contempt upon or discomfort to the country.” That proposed bill was passed in a first reading in the Knesset.
Another bill mentioned, authored by Transportation Minister Yisrael Katz, would change all street names in Israel to “Hebrew names.” Other bills the report includes are those that relate to who can purchase land and the so-called Nakba bill, which would ban state funding for events marking Israel’s independence as a day of mourning, and that was also passed in a first reading last week and is undergoing minor changes.
Meanwhile, another report published Sunday said that only 16 out of thousands of government employees in the Negev are from the Bedouin, Arab or Circassian communities, despite a government decision that by 2012 at least 10 percent of national employees be from minority populations.
The report published by the Negev Coexistence Forum studies the condition of the Bedouin population in the Negev, which is estimated at 200,000.
