A Jewish State and Democracy

Question 1

What is a democracy?

Answer 1

Democracy allows for the expression of views in a legal way in a parliament, ○ Robert Dahl - minimalist procedural democracy is a combination of 8 institutional agreement : Freedom to form and join organizations, Freedom of expression, Right to vote, Eligibility for public office, Right of political leaders to compete for support, Alternative sources of information, Free and fair elections, Institutions for making government policies depend on votes and other expressions of preference

Question 2

How is a democracy different from other regimes?

Answer 2

Modern political democracy is a system of governance in which rulers are held accountable for their actions in the public realm by citizens, acting indirectly through the competition and cooperation of their elected representatives

Question 3

How does Israel maintain its Jewish identity?

Answer 3

State symbols (name, calendar, days of rest, heroes, flag, emblem, anthem), Hebrew is the official language, institutionalized state religion, Zionism is state ideology, the law of return, Jews govern the land regime

Question 4

Why is Israel a democracy?

Answer 4

Governed by the majority rule, recognizes human rights, minorities are accorded citizenship, human, civil, political and cultural rights

Question 5

What diminishes Israel’s democracy?

Answer 5

lack of equality rights, full members of the society lacking rights, the law of return

Question 6

How does the lack of equality rights diminish democracy in Israel?

Answer 6

Palestinian Arabs inferior rights to those of the dominant nation and endure discrimination, § Between 1948 and 1966 Palestinian Arabs were placed under military regime that severely restricted the exercise of their civil liberties

Question 7

How does the law of return diminish democracy in Israel?

Answer 7

Diminishing democracy by creating an imbalance in citizenship rights, favouring Jewish immigrants over non-Jewish residents and potential immigrants.

Question 8

How do full members lacking rights diminish democracy in Israel?

Answer 8

The fact that members of the Jewish nation may be divided into persons living in the homeland and person living in the diaspora. Both enjoy institutional advantageous over “others” who are citizens, but not full members of the society, lacking similar rights.

Question 9

Why is Israel considered a ethnocracy?

Answer 9

Despite several democratic features, ethnicity determines the allocation of rights and privileges ; a constant democratic ethnocratic tension and characterizes politics, Israel does not protect basic civil rights and equality

Question 10

What are the key principles of Israel’s ethnocracy?

Answer 10

Ethnicity determines allocation of rights, state border and political boundaries are fuzzy, dominant ethnic groups appropriates the state and its institutions, society is segregated between 2 ethnographic classes

Question 11

What is the main obstacle to Israel’s democracy?

Answer 11

It is not the Jewishness of the state but the conflict between maintaining a Jewish state and ensuring equal rights for all its citizens, regardless of ethnicity or religion

Question 12

How is Israel a democracy with flaws?

Answer 12

The absence of a constitution and the existence of several anti-democratic laws, the status quo agreement, the second class status of PAI and the status of the WB & Gaza civil rights of inhabitants

Question 13

What are the boundaries of PAI intergration from 1948 - 1966?

Answer 13

Perception of PAI as a threat from state inception, Kafr Qasim Massacre, Growing Political involvement and Israel’s comphrensive land regime

Question 14

What was the perception of PAI?

Answer 14

A security threat because they are apart of the larger, dominant Arab world surrounding Israel

Question 15

What was the solution to the perception of PAI?

Answer 15

Policy solution to this threat perception - military government applied only to PAI despite the fact that they were formally declared citizens of the state in 1948

Question 16

What was the Kafr Qasim Massacre?

Answer 16

§ In 1956, the Israeli army killed 49 Palestinians farmers in Kafr Qasim for violating the curfew imposed on their village, Unaware that a curfew had been ordered, the farmers were returning home from working on their agricultural lands

Question 17

What was PAI’s growing political involvement?

Answer 17

Demonstrations on the anniversary of the massacre in 1957 marked the first time that Palestinians in Israel had organized on a large scale to protest the state’s repressive policies

Question 18

What did the PAI growing political involvement entail the state to do?

Answer 18

Severe restrictions on movement (night curfew), prohibitions on political
organization, limitations on job opportunities, and censorship of
publications.

Question 19

How did Israel develop a comprehensive land regime?

Answer 19

By the end of the 1948 war, Israel war in control of 20,255 km sq km but did not legally own it, The military took over the properties left behind by the Arabs who fled or were expelled in 1948 to prevent the original owners from returning to their homes

Question 20

What are the boundaries of PAI intergration from 1966 - 1991?

Answer 20

State polices, 6 day war, Land day events, First Infitada

Question 21

What were the state polices from 1966 - 1991?

Answer 21

Attempts to suppress PAI identity, a policy of divide and govern post-war land appropriations are complete, (focused on Jewish settlements)

Question 22

What were the land day events?

Answer 22

Following a wave of land expropriations in the gallies area and the government announcement of a plan to expropriate thousands of dunams for state purposes, the PAI organized a general strike across the country,
Clashes between the demonstrators and police killed 6 Palestinians, March 30th marks annual commemoration of Land day events and the collective struggle against land expropriations.

Question 23

What was the first Intifada?

Answer 23

Largely non-violent mass uprising in which Palestinian women and children were heavily involved, Palestinians outside of Israel pressured their kin to join the uprising against Israel within the state, Israel tightens security
For the PAI, the problem of conflicting loyalty expectation sharpens

Question 24

What were the state policies during the 1992 - 1995 Rabin Government?

Answer 24

First-ever minority-friendly government under Yitzhaks Rabin, the government acknowledged years of structural discrimination and committed to reduced socioeconomic gaps

Question 25

What was PAIs response during the 1992-1995 Rabin government?

Answer 25

PLO doesn’t represent PAI, electoral shift to arab parties resulting in organization fragmentation of PAI representation, growing articulation of PAI interest in terms of an Indigenous minority

Question 26

What occurred during Oct 2000?

Answer 26

There was a failure of a peace process resulting in violence between Jews and Arabs, with over 13 Palestinians killed

Question 27

What occurred during the second intifada?

Answer 27

the second one started with mass demonstrations, but quickly escalated into a low intensity war of attrition between Israeli security forces and armed Palestinian groups, 151 suicide bombing in Israel killing 515 and injuring 2500 civilians, PM Sharon decided to build the WB wall and launched a military operation in WB but disenganging from Gaza

Question 28

What are the future vision documents?

Answer 28

In 2006 - 2007, several Arab nongovernmental organizations in Israel led by a group of politicians and intellectualism published future vision documents that summed up the needs, aspirations, hopes and desires of the Arab society in Israel

Question 29

What did the PAI hope for in the future vision documents?

Answer 29

§ Accept the state of Israel within the boundaries determined by the 1948 ceasefire agreements with the Arab states
§ Express their consent with the State of Israel being an expression of he right of self determination of its Jewish citizens
§ But also assert that this right neither precedes nor overrides the equal right of all citizens, especially those of its Arab population

Question 30

What’s the PAI integration from 2015?

Answer 30

Netanyahu approved Resolution 92 which aimed to integrate the minority population in Israel, Arab MK’s, representatives of Arab communities and social organization participated in the formation of this resolution