Monday, October 1, 2018

Israel's 'Nationality' Law and Palestinian Lies

by Bassam Tawil • October 1, 2018 at 5:00 am

It is far from clear why the Palestinians living in the West Bank and Gaza Strip should be concerned about Israel's new Nation-State Law. The Palestinians living in these areas are not Israeli citizens and are not part of the Israeli political system. The Palestinians living in these areas have their own (Palestinian) citizenship, their own flag, their own parliament and their own government. They are not affected by the law in any way. This fact renders their opposition to the law little less than ridiculous.
This is the logic of Mahmoud Abbas and the Palestinians: Israel defining itself as a Jewish state is an act of "racism" and "apartheid," while, as a matter of course, the future Palestinian state will be an Islamic state governed by Sharia law, and that, presumably, is not an act of "racism" or "apartheid."
Before condemning Israel for seeking to preserve its character as a Jewish state, the world needs to explain why it is all right for the Palestinians to plan that their future state will be ruled by Islamic law.
We are witnessing yet another remarkable mirror image brought to us by the Palestinians: once again, they seek to deny Israel precisely what they believe should come to them on a silver platter.

In 2002, the Palestinian Legislative Council passed the Palestinian Basic Law, which states: "Islam is the official religion in Palestine. The principles of Islamic Sharia shall be the main source of legislation. Arabic shall be the official language." This is the logic of Mahmoud Abbas and the Palestinians: Israel defining itself as a Jewish state is an act of "racism" and "apartheid," while, as a matter of course, the future Palestinian state will be an Islamic state governed by Sharia law, and that is not presumably an act of "racism" or "apartheid." (Photo by Zharan Hammad/Getty Images)

For the past few weeks, the Palestinians and their leaders have been raising strident voices against Israel's new Nation-State Law, which specifies the nature of the State of Israel as the nation-state of the Jewish people. The Palestinians have condemned the law as "racist" and claimed that it paves the way for Israel becoming an "apartheid state."

This week, Palestinians declared a general strike in the West Bank and Gaza Strip to protest the law, which, they say, "eliminates the two-state solution."