Israeli group calls for increased rights for Arabs
Rory McCarthy in Jerusalem
Wednesday February 28, 2007
Guardian Unlimited

An Israeli soldier checks identity cards in the West Bank city of Hebron. Photograph: Abed al-Hafiz Hashlamoun/EPA
An Israeli human rights group today proposed a new national constitution that gives more rights to the country's Arab minority and says Israel should be defined not as a Jewish state but as a "democratic, bilingual and multicultural state".Although the paper - from Adalah, a legal organisation working for Arab rights - is unlikely ever to become law, it is part of a fresh effort by the Arab minority in Israel to argue for a stronger role in society.
Most striking was the proposal to scrap Israel's law of return, which gives automatic citizenship to anyone with at least one Jewish grandparent. The paper argues that citizenship of Israel should be for those born in Israel with a parent also born there; those with a parent who is a citizen; those married to a citizen; or those arriving for humanitarian reasons, including political persecution.
Adalah also proposed that a parliamentary committee, with half its members drawn from Arab parties, should have a veto on laws related to the constitution unless outvoted by a two-thirds majority of parliament.

