The Democratic Constitution

The Democratic Constitution (English | Arabic | Hebrew | French)

On the tenth anniversary of its founding, Adalah is issuing "The Democratic Constitution," as a constitutional proposal for the state of Israel, based on the concept of a democratic, bilingual, multicultural state. This proposed constitution draws on universal principles and international conventions on human rights, the experiences of nations and the constitutions of various democratic states.

In recent years, Israeli groups have put forward several constitutions for the state of Israel. However, these proposals are distinguished by their lack of conformity to democratic principles, in particular the right to complete equality of all residents and citizens, and by their treatment of Arab citizens as if they were strangers in this land, where history, memory and collective rights exist only for Jewish people.

It is no coincidence therefore that these proposals have been preoccupied with the question of "Who is a Jew?" and have neglected the primary constitutional question of, "Who is a citizen?"

Thus, we decided to propose a democratic constitution. This constitution respects the freedoms of the individual and the rights of all groups, gives proper weight to the historical injustices committed against Arab citizens of Israel, and deals seriously with the social and economic rights of all. 

The preparation of this constitutional proposal took place in parallel with two other documents: 

"The Future Vision for the Palestinian Arabs in Israel,"  prepared by a team consisting of the head of the High Follow-up Committee for the Arabs in Israel on behalf of National Committee for Arab Mayors

"The Haifa Declaration," published by Mada al-Carmel - Arab Center For Applied Social Research. 

Although the formulation of this constitution is at an advanced stage, we consider this constitution a draft proposal.