Rights and Accountability 15 May 2014
This powerful new infographic from Visualizing Palestine shows how Israel’s system of identity cards is used to enforce apartheid on Palestinians. The type of ID one has determines how much of historic Palestine one is allowed to access. Israeli Jewish citizens are free to move and live in virtually the whole country, while at the bottom end Palestinians in the occupied West Bank and Gaza are restricted to tiny enclaves.
Millions of exiled Palestinian refugees have no access to the country at all for one reason alone: they are not Jewish. No wonder many Palestinians compare Israel’s ID card regime to apartheid South Africa’s notorious pass laws.
Learn more at visualizingpalestine.org.
Comments
Palestinians who can vote but cannot be represented.
Permalink Angel Robin Fox replied on
I feel a need to add another layer into this cake -
Somewhere between the voting Palestinians and the non-voting Jerusalem Palestinians, are the voting Palestinians who cannot vote for anyone who is a true representative of their will. How many such people are there, feeling that they are not being represented?
I am referring, of course to The Basic Law: The Knesset, Amendment 35 – 2002, Section 7A, entitled “Prevention of participation in the elections.” where A party or individual candidate may be banned from participating in elections on the basis of denial of the existence of the State of Israel as a “Jewish and democratic state in addition to alleged “support of armed struggle, of an enemy state or of a terrorist organization.” (http://huka.gov.il/wiki/index.... ), With the addition of Amendment 39 (Candidate who Visited a Hostile State Illegally) – 2008, Section 7Aa(1) of The Basic Law: "The Knesset denies the right to stand as a candidate for election to the Knesset to any individual who visited an “enemy states” without prior permission from the Interior Minister." (during the past 7 years).
It is interesting to note that Amendment 35 is from 2002, but the official Knesset Site in English ( https://www.knesset.gov.il/law... ), did not have time to add it to its laws.
According to Article 7A(B) the decision of the central elections committee that a candidate is barred from participating in elections requires the approval of the Supreme Court -which ruled in favour of Ahmad Tibi and Azmi Bishara (2003) and ever since efforts are being made to weaken the Court and strengthen the Central Elections Committee.
This Law is clearly there to make it impossible for Palestinians to be justly represented in the electoral system.
Following Article 7A(C) candidates are required to declare-
“I commit myself to...avoid acting in contradiction to Article Section 7A"
you are only partly correct
Permalink G.Y replied on
Angel Robin Fox : you're observation is not entirely accurate.
the law you stated "Amendment 35 – 2002, Section 7A" is there, and shouldn't exist
but their are at list 3 Israeli parties i know of in the Knesset today, who's platform is against the Jewish state.
Balad, lead by Jamal Zahalka.
Ra'am-Ta'al, lead by Ibrahim Sarsur
Hadash, lead by Mohammad Barakeh
they don't deny Israel is a Jewish state, but they do say it shouldn't be.
you are right that the laws are designed to deny the Israeli Arabs from voting
and their are no candidates that advocate that all the Jewish residents would be thrown to the see and replaced by Palestinians... but their Jewish representatives that advocate throwing out all the Palestinians from their homes and replacing them with Jews... and that's the double standard inherit in Israel.
all these laws you mentioned are wrong. but the Palestinians have some good representatives in Israel, some of them so great i voted for them.
I agree (but...)
Permalink Angel Robin Fox replied on
G.Y.
I am delighted to be mistaken. Do you feel that the Palestinian political map is being represented by the electoral system?
The Supreme Court's verdict was (2003) in favour of Azmi Bishara (at the time Balad) and Ahmad Tibi (at the time Ta'al-Hadash). Apparently, there is also a loophole in the Parties Law - 1992, Chapter 1, Article 5A , "A party cannot be registered if it wishes to negate the existence of Israel as a Jewish Democratic state." through which - " A party can informally add to its list bodies or personalities that are not members of the party and that are not registered themselves as a party" - member of the Islamic movement were represented in the Knesset (did not find too much information about it).
So it looks to me like a system which allows Palestinians to be justly represented only when the goodness of the Master's heart so desires, and not by legislative rights (or even - when the Master decided to go against its own laws).
BTW, Have the Knesset members named above declared as follows: “I commit myself to uphold loyalty for the State of Israel to avoid acting in contradiction to Article Section 7A of The Basic Law: The Knesset." ?
I find Adalah's document ADALAH_2_Israel99.doc (existing online) to be highly informative.
..and again, I am happy you feel the situation is better than I though.
it's not really better then you thought
Permalink G.Y replied on
obviously the Palestinian political map is not represented by the electoral system.
it's not that the situation is much better then you thought... it's that their is allot of room for things to get even worth, far worth.
Palestinian/Arab Israelis have some voting power and are allowed to run for public office. (under the unjust limitation of the law you mentioned)
but it seem more and more plausible that even this freedom hangs on a loose thread.
Inaccurate and misleading
Permalink Bryan replied on
1) Israeli Jews are forbidden from living in Areas A (under full Palestinian Authority control under Oslo) and B (under joint control); however it looks like the area on your map only includes Area A.
2) There are community admissions councils for some communities, similar to coop board in NYC that planned cohesive communities based on ideology (e.g., socialist, agrarian, etc.) or observance (secular, Orthodox, etc.). There were also development towns established for the purposes of supporting and advancing specific communities (e.g., Jews refugees from Arab countries, Ethiopian Jews, Golan Druze, Negev Bedouin, etc.). Many Jewish communities had policies that either implicitly or explicitly excluded Arabs, and they didn't create or support infrastructure for Arabs (e.g., mosques). Two Supreme Court rulings made this illegal, so Israeli Arabs have equal rights to buy/lease land and live where they please.
Further, your map seems to include as forbidden to Arabs places like Tel Aviv and Akko that are very mixed, as well as places like Akko, that are majority Arab.
3) East Jerusalem Arabs have resident status in Israel (and can apply for citizenship), which entitles them to all the rights of any other Israeli (including healthcare and social security) except voting in national elections. In the past, if they moved out of Israel for more than seven years, their residency permits were revoked. The policy was challenged at the Supreme Court and has been changed. Now, people who are absent from Israel can apply every three years to extend their residency (like a visa), and Palestinians who had their status revoked in the past were given the right to apply for reinstatement.
4) Palestinians living in Areas A and B are citizens of the PA. Some of them have visas to work in Israel or in Area C.
5) Gaza/Hamas is officially at war with Israel, so residents are only permitted to travel out of Gaza through Israel with travel, medical, or education visas.
There is no such thing as a
Permalink Martha replied on
There is no such thing as a Palestinian "citizen", despite some commentators misleading usage of the word. You can't have it both ways - oppose the UN recognition of a nation state of Palestine, then refer to PA "citizens".
as the 14th US Chief Justice, Earl Warren (1953–1969), said: “Citizenship is man’s basic right for it is nothing less than the right to have right” (1958). (He ended black-white school segregation and required "one man-one vote" apportionment of Congressional districts.) It's pretty pointless to opine on websites, but I'd be embarrassed to live in a country that didn't allow anyone within its borders to vote based on their religion. We live in the "age of human rights" according to some leading activists and judiciaries - with a global media and increasing levels of education - and citizenship has been deemed one of those rights. Countries can no longer "get away" with taking over territory. You may raise Putin's Russia, with a population that still retains delusions of empirical grandeur according to public opinion surveys, but even it has backed away from a military takeover in Crimea. I am sympathetic to the creation of a State of Israel in the UN-designated boundaries and the pre-emptive strike of 1967. However its too bad Israel didn't withdraw to its UN borders and retain a international legal leg to stand on. Territory doesn't equal contentment and high standards of living: Iceland, Austria, Netherlands, Switzerland, Denmark, Belgium, Luxembourg have all been named in the top ten countries in which to live in the last two years. I am sick of politicians who can't think outside the borders - it is so 19th century.
A Myriad of Layers of Facts on the Ground
Permalink che handala replied on
Brilliant. This is one piece that needs to circumvent the globe... One layer, or two can be added though-The layer that shows that Palestinians in the west bank are excluded from living anywhere in israel proper and also a layer stating that if a Palestinian marries a jewish woman he is not allowed to move to Israel, even if his wife live lives in israel...
What if he converts to Judaism and makes Aliya?
Permalink Angel Robin Fox replied on
Is that even a legal option?