The Constitution and the Arab Minority: First Debate

The first of Mada al-Carmel's debate series "The Constitution and the Arab Minority" took place at al-Midan Theatre in Haifa on 10 March 2005. The debate between MK Professor Yael Tamir and MK Muhammad Barakeh was introduced by Professor Nadim Rouhana, the General Director of Mada, who explained the rationale behind this series of debates. He emphasised the importance of Arab participation in the constitution dialogue, despite our being outside the Zionist consensus, so as to express our rejection of an ethnically exclusive and undemocratic process, and of a text that imposes the Jewish nature of the state. Following Professor Rouhana's introduction, Dr. Michael Karayanni, Lecturer at The Hebrew University and Academic Director of the Minerva Center for Human Rights at the University, took the chair for the debate.

MK Professor Yael Tamir, member of the Labour Party and of the Constitution, Law and Justice Committee in the Knesset, explained her position in defence of the Jewish nature of the state and of the right of the Jewish people to a national state. She prefers this option to a state for all citizens. She claimed that the Jewish nature of the state does not necessarily entail discrimination against the Arabs in terms of resource distribution or equality of opportunities. If the state chooses to define itself as a national state, then it must also recognise the Arabs as a national minority. However, such a definition of the state intrinsically involves a specific type of discrimination, illustrated by characteristics such as Jewish symbols of the state and the Law of Return. The resultant estrangement of the minority is inevitable and cannot be redressed: the minority must accept it.

MK Muhammad Barakeh, General Secretary of the Democratic Front for Peace and Equality (DFPE) and leader of the parliamentary block consisting of the DFPE and the Arab Movement for Change, praised meetings of this sort, which he considers to be extremely worthwhile. He does not believe that we, as Arabs, should cut ourselves off from the current constitutional process; but in current circumstances we cannot be partners in the creation of an acceptable constitution. The proposed constitution does not take into consideration the historical context. Although the Israeli Democracy Institute did seek Arab partners in the constitution forming process, it unsuccessfully attempted to bypass Arab leaders, while the questions used in surveys of Arab public opinion were misleading and lacked credibility. Mr. Barakeh stated that there must be a stand against enshrining the Jewish nature of the state in a constitution, adding that it would be possible to reach a united position among the Arab parties on this issue. He affirmed that it is neither possible nor desirable to avoid the two vital issues of national rights and class rights.

The participants then took questions from the floor.