TITLE:
I Believe: Israeli Arabs – Lost in a Sea of Identities
AUTHORS:
Mohammed Saif-Alden Wattad
KEYWORDS:
Citizenship, Nationality, Freedom of Expression, Equality, Dignity, Israeli Arabs, Constitutional Democracy
JOURNAL NAME:
Beijing Law Review,
Vol.2 No.1,
March
25,
2011
ABSTRACT: This paper aims at making the dream of peace real in the Middle East, concerning the constant conflict over “the holy land,” thus building up a conceptual apparatus of checks and balances. For this hope to be fulfilled, a second thought regarding the internal legal-social problems of the state of Israel ought to be considered. Hypocrisy has led us to believe that political and social problems are unsolvable because of their nature as political and social as such. Legal philosophy distinguishes between two theories of law, one expresses the idea of laws enacted by an authoritative body, and the other refers to the good and just law which is binding because it is good and just. The establishment of the state of Israel in 1948 led to the division of Mandatory Palestine, where many Arab families were expelled and others were deported, many fled and others decided to leave whether because of the coercive circumstances or by free will. Those who remained within the new established state called “Israel” have become Israeli citizens, and they constitute nowadays 20% of the Israeli population. And it is with their multiple identities that I concern.