A land of conflict: Law as a means of hegemony

By: Barzilai G.
Published in: Israel Studies
SDGs : SDG 10  |  Units: Law  | Time: 2020 |  Link
Description: The article examines major issues embedded in and related to Basic Law: Israel as the Nation-State of the Jewish People. This Law, enacted in 2018, is highly controversial both in Israel and internationally. I analyze it here through several interlocking prisms that provide a theoretical perspective on hegemonic state law, comparative law, developments in Israeli constitutional law, and the socio-political context of this Law. The article touches on national self-determination; nationality, ethnicity and national symbols; language; immigration, the right of return, and land; the status of Jerusalem; and the conflict between Jews and Palestinians since the 1967 occupation. The comparative perspective I offer here points to legal and constitutional similarities. However, the absence of equality as fundamental to the Law, and its exclusionary ethno-national core, make it highly problematic and may invite constitutional adjudication and possible-though by no means certain-judicial opinions of unconstitutionality or constitutional demands for legal amendments. © 2020 Indiana University. All rights reserved.