The origins of the military rule can be found in the British Mandatory Defence (Emergency) Regulations of 1945 (which reached back to the 1936−39 revolt) and the Israeli Emergency (Security Zones) Regulations, 5707 of 1949.108 The military rule was enforced in all areas populated by Palestinians and it served various objectives beyond the declared ‘security’ justification. It was essentially a tool to control the Palestinian population inside Israel, to take over the remainder of their lands and villages. The military rule also aimed to prevent the return of any Palestinian refugees to their homes. Short-term uses of military rule included the regulation of the Palestinian labor force according to the needs of the Israeli market (as in the present case of the Palestinians of the West Bank and Gaza Strip), and a political tool in the hands of the ruling party, Mapai, on election days.109 Early discussions by ruling Knesset (Israeli parliament) and political factions reveal government strategies ranging from implementation of mass expulsions to the carrying out of systematic harassment policies, designed to ‘encourage’ Palestinians to ‘migrate’. While mass displacement was deemed impossible to implement ‘in times of peace’, the latter and incremental proposition was perceived as more practical and acceptable. Moshe Sharett,110 a signatory to Israel’s Declaration of Independence, summarized the principle by encouraging Palestinians who were willing to migrate and suggesting that “a policy based on minimal fairness should be adopted toward Arabs who were not inclined to leave”.111 The “minimal fairness” framework for achieving Palestinian displacement was adopted into Israeli governmental policy through various laws, regulations and practices.112 The result of this is that, today, more than 50 Israeli laws discriminate against Palestinian citizens of Israel.113 Moreover, the notion 108 Ibid., 9. 109 Manar Makhoul, “Seismography of Identities: Literary Reflections of Palestinian Identity Evolution in Israel between 1948 and 2010” (University of Cambridge, 2013). 110 In addition to one of the signatories to Israel’s Declaration of Independence, Moshe Sharett was the first Foreign Minister and the second Prime Minister of Israel. 111 Nur Massalha, A Land without a People: Israel, Transfer and the Palestinians 1949-96 (Faber and Farber Limited, 1997), 3. 112 Other policies included a system of control that limited and manipulated the Palestinians inside Israel. Lustick suggests that Israel’s control over its Palestinian citizens is maintained through a threefold system of segmentation, dependence and co-optation. The cooptation system meant that the government will adopt and encourage the ‘positive’ elements among the Palestinians, and isolating and marginalizing the ‘negative’ elements in the society (Jiryis, S. The Arabs in Israel. Monthly Review Press, New York (1976), 63-64). 113 For more information see: BADIL, Occasional Bulletin No.26: Israel’s Discriminatory Laws (Bethlehem, Palestine: BADIL Resource Center for Residency and Refugee Rights, 2012), http://www.badil.org/en/ press-releases/142-2012/3609-press-eng-42; And Adalah, “Discriminatory Laws Database” (Adalah – The Legal Center for Arab Minority Rights in Israel), accessed March 10, 2014, http://adalah.org/eng/ Israeli-Discriminatory-Law-Database. 46