58 chapter two mentioned­above, there is a British Mandate-era law from 1943, The Independence Day Law of 1949, and The Citizenship Law of 1952 that are being amended. So, these are some of Israel’s oldest laws. These laws serve as a foundation of the State of Israel and have been part and parcel of the shaping of its identity, dynamics, and attitudes. In fact, as mentioned, The Citizenship Law (1952) is one of the most important laws in Israel because as an extension The Law of Return (1950), it is a key tool for ensuring a Jewish demographic majority. As such, the kind of obtrusive, discriminatory, and aggressive legislation passed by today’s Knesset does not only depict an intensified right-wing trend in Israeli society and politics. It also depicts a change in the identity and disposition of the state itself. What this shows is that, for its self-preservation, the Israeli regime requires a constant and ongoing (re)creation of itself in opposition and response to its Palestinian-Arab citizenry. In effect, every moment of preservation of Israel’s exclusionary regime requires as much energy as its establishment.20 Finally, the third (and rather obvious) point that arises from an examination of this legislation is that the strengthening of the Jewish character of the State of Israel inevitably generates a feeble and tenuous democratic character. The political regime in Israel did not amend the discriminatory Law of Return (1950) for Jews. Seeking Jewish political and demographic dominance, it instead amended The Citizenship Law (1952) for Palestinians.21 As a result, this wave of new legislation shows that Jewish ascendancy is antithetical to principles of democratic citizenship and equality. Formal and Declarative Levels Jewish dominance is both concrete and irrefutable. Established in 1948, Israel was declared to be a Jewish state. The legally entrenched definition of Israel as ‘the state of the Jewish people’ or a Jewish state provokes and fuels the multiple forms of discrimination that pervade every sphere of Palestinian existence. Visible symbols such as official state holidays, the flag and other state symbols, the national anthem, the imposition of religious observances, street and road signs depicting the names of villages and towns and regulated dietary laws are all built upon the premise of the social and political hegemony of the Jewish people, and completely dismissive of the Palestinian citizenry (Ghanem 1998, 432). When it comes to 20 See Voegeli (2009). This author keeps a copy of this paper in her personal records. 21 For a good discussion on these laws, see Cook (2006, Chs. 1 and 3).