80 chapter two the first formal statements by collectives from the Palestinian community in Israel on their placement within Israeli society and politics. Together, these statements touch upon similar themes, and articulate the community’s intricate understanding and criticisms of the principles of democracy, representation, citizenship and minority rights in Israel. Further, by deconstructing notions of ‘the Jewish and democratic state’, illuminating the lack of space for a Palestinian identity in a Zionist state, and pointing to the failures of Israel’s project of coexistence, these documents indicate the development of a new consciousness among the Arab community. While they each possess their own distinguishing features and approach the question of Palestinian presence in Israel from a different angle, they are more or less in agreement that Israel must accept responsibility for injustices against the Palestinian people, including recognition of the Nakba, the right of return of Palestinian refugees as per UN Resolution 194, and the Palestinian right to national self-determination within the pre1967 borders. Of these documents, The Democratic Constitution and The Haifa Declaration deserve particular attention.67 Responding to the range of draft constitutions proposed by Israeli groups, none of which posit the right to complete equality among citizens and residents nor recognize the Arab community as indigenous to the land, The Democratic Constitution (hereafter ‘DC’) aims to provide the Israeli Knesset with an alternative vision. The DC is essentially a draft constitution whose conception of liberties and rights is based upon the legal experiences of established democratic states along with a broad range of international human rights covenants and declarations.68 This document addresses a range of logistical legal questions of governmental and judicial powers, citizen and minority participation in political decision-making and operative issues pertaining to the right to sustainable development, due process, privacy, health and housing, and freedoms including, among others, political expression and association, mobility, and conscience. Throughout its address, the DC makes references to international legal covenants to which Israel is already party. Perhaps its most important contribution is the provision of an account of citizenship based upon the principle and right of non-discrimination. Stressing the historical significance of the 67 See Appendices I and II for selections of both documents. 68 Adalah: The Legal Center for Arab Minority Rights in Israel, The Democratic Constitution, March 2007: 5, http://www.adalah.org/Public/files/democratic_constitution -english.pdf.