the israeli incorporation regime81
synthesis between territory and citizenship for issues of civil rights, the
first clause in this document states that “[t]he borders of the State of Israel
are the borders of the territory which was subject to the Israeli law until
5 June 1967.”69 The authors of the DC explain:
The test of belonging to ‘a clear territory’ facilitated the definition of ‘Who
the citizen is’ that stands as an equal before the state without intermediary
agents. This is particularly true with regard to the State of Israel, where the
lack of a defined border contributed to the fact that tribal and ethnic affiliation became the essence of citizenship. This also explains why Israeli law
deals with ‘Who a Jew is’ and not ‘Who a citizen is’; and it is no coincidence
that the citizenship of Jews living outside the Green Line, for example, is
stronger than that of the Arab citizens who live within the Green Line. ….
Indeed, the public perception that the citizenship of some of the citizenry is
temporary due to a lack of defined borders will continually harm the everyday status of these citizens, thereby affirming the truth of the statement:
Empires have frontiers, but democracies have borders.70
With this clause, the DC challenges the fusing of Jewish identity and Israeli
citizenship. In doing so, it also sets the ground for the abrogation of the
current dynamic where the Jewish people are the sovereign power in
Israel, regardless of their actual citizenship.71
In conjunction with many of the claims made in the DC, The Haifa
Declaration (hereafter ‘HD’) aims to clearly articulate the collective vision
of the Palestinian community within Israel, “in their effort to assert their
national identity, national rights, and their right to democracy and equal
citizenship.”72 Published on Nakba Day, May 15, 2007, and steeped in the
discourse of democratic citizenship, equal representation and historical
justice, the HD also aspires to generate dialogue both within the Arab
community and with the Jewish-Israeli society. The document begins
by positing a reading of the Palestinian experience in Israel and its
multileveled relationship with the rest of the Palestinian people, the
Arab states, and the Israeli regime, and goes on to elaborate on the
effect of these attachments on the national identity of the community.
69 Ibid., 6.
70 Ibid.
71 That said, the aims of the DC are relatively humble. Its drafters hold that if it manages
to capture the enormous difference between the DC and proposals put forward by other
Israeli groups, and to fuel an objective public engagement on the question of rights and
freedoms in Israel, “then we will have taken an important step forward in the issues of
racial equality, freedoms and social justice” (ibid., 3).
72 Mada al-Carmel: Arab Center for Applied Social Research, The Haifa Declaration,
May 2007: 5, http://www.mada-research.org/en/files/2007/09/haifaenglish.pdf.
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