29 November 2017 marks the 70th anniversary of the landmark United Nations Resolution 181, which provides for establishing two independent states in Historic Palestine (Partition Plan). For 70 years, only one state, namely the State of Israel, has been in existence. It lies over an area that is much larger than that originally designated by the Partition Plan. This state exercises military control over all Historic Palestine, and even more so.
For decades, the essence of Israel’s constitutional discourse has been expressed by draft constitutions proposed by the official Israeli establishment. Today, this discourse is articulated by the Jewish Nationalism Bill. Not only does this bill contravene International Law concepts and standards of equality and protection of national minority rights, but it also impinges on the provisions of the UN Partition Plan of 1947. The latter calls on both future Arab and Hebrew states to adopt a “democratic constitution”, which safeguards full equality for all citizens before the law.
