July 18, 2007

But you mustn't call it apartheid

Here are a couple of articles on a new bill before Israel's parliament. The first is in the Jerusalem Post and titled Bill would stop Arabs leasing JNF land:
The Knesset on Wednesday overwhelmingly approved in preliminary reading a bill allowing the Israel Lands Authority to continue selling land belonging to the Jewish National Fund (JNF) to Jews only, despite a contradictory decision made earlier this year by Attorney-General Menahem Mazuz.

The bill was initiated by MKs Uri Ariel (NRP/NU) and Ze'ev Elkin (Kadima) and passed by a vote of 64 to 16.
The second is in Ha'aretz and headed Bill allocating JNF land to Jews only passes preliminary reading:
When the bill was discussed in the Knesset presidency, there were demands to nullify it because it was called racist, but Knesset legal advisor Nurit Elstein said a bill should only be rejected if the racism is explicit in the proposal.
So please don't call Israel an apartheid state, that would be too, er, explicit.

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