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Israel to revoke Arabic's official language standing in occupied territories

Sunday, 07 May 2017 5:09 PM [ Last Update: Sunday, 07 May 2017 5:39 PM ]

The file photo shows a view of the Israeli parliament, Knesset.

Israel is pushing for a bill, which, if passed, will downgrade Arabic from its current status as an official language in the occupied Palestinian territories to a non-official language.

The provocative bill was approved by the Ministerial Committee for Legislation on Sunday and now waits to pass a number of rounds of legislation in the Israeli parliament, Knesset, for further readings before becoming law.

Both Arabic and Hebrew are now the official languages of Israel, but according to the new bill, "the national language [of Israel] is Hebrew." The bill further states that "the right to realize self-determination" within Israel "is unique to the Jewish people" and the occupied territories are their "national home."

The bill was initially proposed in 2011 by a member of the hard-line Likud Party, led by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. It came up for ministerial consideration in 2015. The bill, however, failed to pass through the ministerial committee at the time.

If the proposed law, which substantially harms the rights of minorities, is ultimately passed by the Knesset, it will turn into a fundamental law and will become an essential ingredient of Israel's central body of legislation. It will also encode the structure of the occupying regime.

Palestinian children sit on a road during clashes with Israeli forces following a weekly demonstration against the occupation of Palestinian lands by Israel in the village of Kfar Qaddum, near Nablus, in the occupied West Bank, April 14, 2017. (Photo by AFP)

The controversial bill, however, drew harsh criticisms even within Israel. Meretz party leader Zehava Gal-On lambasted the bill and called it "a declaration of war against Israel's Arab citizens."

The bill further proclaims the whole Jerusalem as the capital of Israel, a move which infuriates Palestinians, who want the occupied West Bank as part of a future independent Palestinian state, with East Jerusalem al-Quds as its capital.

About 600,000 Israelis live in over 230 illegal settlements built since the 1967 Israeli occupation of the Palestinian territories of the West Bank and East Jerusalem al-Quds.

On December 23, 2016, the United Nations Security Council passed Resolution 2334 that calls on Israel to “immediately and completely cease all settlement activities in the occupied Palestinian territory, including East Jerusalem” al-Quds.

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