A young law professor
came to talk at the UCLA Nazarian center Feb 11, 2015
Jewish and Democratic?: A Perspective from
Israel's Arab Minority
Professor Mohammed
S. Wattad
Bright and clever, he
has an impressive law career.
He started his talk by
telling us about a conference he attended in Canada where he presented himself
to a Canadian judge: "I am Mohammad from Israel." The judge
asked "How come?" This comment made him think deeply about his
identity and having to explain that he is an Israeli Arab. He does not
feel as a Palestinian but as an Arab.
He talked as a lawyer from
a legal point of view and tried to keep religion out of his discussion. He
described the partition plan by the British, which he read very carefully:
“Two states to two
people: One state Jewish with an Arab minority, a second state Arab with a
Jewish minority. BOTH PALESTINIANS.” Ben Gurion accepted the plan,
but the Arabs rejected it.
He pointed out that
Israel has no constitution; therefore it is wrong for anyone to claim that it
is a constitutional democracy. He talked about Israel's series of basic
laws jokingly saying that Jews have a hard time agreeing on anything, so that
is why there was never a constitution.
One of the basic laws
from 1992 deals with human dignity, liberty and the right to life.
(If I understand
correctly there are no laws dealing with freedom of speech or social and
economic rights.)
The main body that
keeps law and justice in Israel is the 15 member Supreme Court, the only body
that protects human rights and democracy. It is the Supreme Court that
established the democratic facets of the state. He brought examples of the Supreme Court
decisions.
He talked about
Israeli Arabs not serving in the army. But the issue is that soldiers who do
serve are discriminated to be the only ones protecting the security of
Israelis, including orthodox Jews and Arabs who do not serve. One of the
solutions was that those who do not serve in the army would serve in another
kind of National service.
Mohammad made a very
clever point saying that in that case every Israeli should have a choice how to
serve. This is very clever again. Legally it makes sense. But
practically this is a trap for IDF. The power of IDF is that EVERY
ISRAELI is a soldier. It is the strength of the whole, the strength of the spirit.
People asked him about
the impossibility of a separate Palestinian state and mentioned that withdrawals
from Lebanon and Gaza brought in Hezbollah and Hamas. His answer was that Israel was the one who
created Hamas as opposition to PLO. In
addition he claimed that a unilateral withdrawal is not the same as a
negotiated withdrawal.
My question to Mohammad
and any Arab is: Where do they expect the Jews to live, be independent and have
freedom of religion? I told him I
understand his feelings of being a minority. I mentioned my family’s history from Mashhad
where they were forced to convert to Islam, to Israel where they are free as
Jews. It is the only place where Jews
can live freely. Even in the US, the
greatest democracy and defender of human rights I am in the minority. Mohammad had no answer for me.
I want to stress here that
I have followed many opinions of moderate Arabs. They invariably find intelligent informed
facts to point out why Jews cannot keep the state of Israel into the foreseeable
future:
The Arabs build their
homes along the slope of the mountains. Jews
build high rise buildings that stick out of the natural curve of the hill. They do not belong in this land.
The title of this talk
is most ubiquitous: Israel cannot be Jewish and Democratic.
There are a million ways to prove this point,
but I stress: Israel MUST be Jewish and democratic. It has to be.
There is no other option. The
Arab neighbors of Israel need to accept it, understand it and participate in
making sure this is the case.
The continuous efforts
of Arabs to criticize everything done by Israel, to demonize it, boycott and
sanction it only prolongs the conflict and there will never be any winners.
The announcement about
the speaker:
Since
its inception, Israel was established as a constitutional democracy, even in
the absence of a constitution, primarily due to the leading role that the
Supreme Court has played in this context. In this talk, Professor Wattad will
address various perceptions of Jewish democracy, recent changes in Israeli
distribution of power, how Israel’s minorities are affected, and how a Jewish
democracy will and should play out in Israel’s future. From his unique perspective,
he will also discuss the importance of the court system and rights for
minorities, as well as current threats to Israel’s democracy.
Professor
Mohammed S. Wattad is
a legal scholar specializing in international and comparative criminal
law, comparative constitutional law, international law, and legal issues
surrounding war, torture, and terrorism. A graduate of Haifa University School
of Law, Wattad holds a Master of Law degree from The Hebrew University of
Jerusalem. He also attended Columbia University as a Fulbright Scholar, where
he earned his Juris Doctorate and another Master of Law degree. From 2003-2004,
he served as a legal clerk at the Supreme Court of Israel under the supervision
of Justice Dalia Dorner. He is currently an assistant professor at Zefat
College School of Law in Israel and is editor-in-chief of the Journal 'Medicine
and Law'.
