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Opening Remarks |
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The reaction of the Israeli establishment to the Arab future vision documents has been one of hysteria. Such reactions were characteristic of colonial regimes, which viewed any challenge to their constitutional structure, based on repression, as a strategic threat. Such was the reaction of the Apartheid regime in the 1950s when the African National Congress proposed the Freedom Charter, in which it demanded the transformation of South Africa into a state of all its citizens. During 1956 many of the authors of the charter were charged with high treason. However, in 1996, the charter became a part of the preamble of the South African constitution. At the international level reactions to the Arab future vision documents, which are based on international principles regarding the rights of the citizen and human rights, have been supportive and encouraging. The philosopher Judith Butler from the University of California-Berkley, for example, wrote that “[Adalah’s Democratic Constitution] proposes a systematic separation of nation and state, and so resonates with an Arendtian politics”. Following the publication of the draft Democratic Constitution, Adalah announced that it would hold meetings in order to arrive at a final version of the document. Adalah is working to establish a group made up of Palestinian activists and academics from the homeland and the diaspora, as well as Jewish Israeli and international experts, in order to finalize the text of the Democratic Constitution. One of the suggestions under discussion is the transformation of the draft into a democratic constitution for a supranational regime in all of historic Palestine. The European Convention on Human Rights will provide a useful model in this discussion. Bringing together this group will be one of the activities undertaken by Adalah in preparation for the sixtieth year of the Nakba in 2008. |
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Nakba 60 Anniversary |
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Adalah’s Newsletter is a monthly publication issued in Arabic, Hebrew and English. It highlights Adalah’s main activities, provides analysis of human rights issues, and links to new reports. Suggestions, articles and commentaries from our readers are welcome. 
