This analysis explores the origins and constitutional implications of Basic Law: Israel – The Nation State of the Jewish People (hereafter the Jewish Nation-State Law), enacted by the Israeli Knesset in July 2018. It examines the antecedents of the legislation in Israeli jurisprudence and argues that most of the law's provisions are the product of precedents established by Israel's Supreme Court, specifically the court's rulings delivered post-Oslo. The authors contend that the “two states for two peoples” vision of so-called liberal Zionists paved the way for Israel's right-wing politicians to introduce this law. Their analysis holds that the law is radical in nature: far from being a mere continuation of the status quo, it confers unprecedented constitutional status on ordinary policies and destabilizes the prevailing legal distinction between the area within the Green Line and the 1967 occupied territories.
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Winter 2019
Research Article|
February 01 2019
The Jewish Nation-State Law
Hassan Jabareen,
Hassan Jabareen
Hassan Jabareen is the founder and General and Legal Director of Adalah – The Legal Center for Arab Minority Rights in Israel.
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Suhad Bishara
Suhad Bishara
Suhad Bishara is a senior lawyer with Adalah and the director of the organization's Land and Planning Unit.
This article, originally written in Arabic, was translated for JPS by Katie Hesketh.
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Journal of Palestine Studies (2019) 48 (2): 43–57.
Citation
Hassan Jabareen, Suhad Bishara; The Jewish Nation-State Law. Journal of Palestine Studies 1 February 2019; 48 (2): 43–57. doi: https://doi.org/10.1525/jps.2019.48.2.43
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