FINLAND & PALESTINE Proceedings of a Joint Workshop

Visions ofi1 Real Multiculturalism
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Furthermore, in recent years there have been several attempts
to present an unofficial draft-constitution. The most important
of these was the so-called "constitution by agreement" project
spearheaded by the Israeli Democracy Institute. 5 Another unofficial
draft is a document entitled Kinneret Covenant, which
was published in early 2002 by an organization known as the
Forum for National Responsibility.6
In addition to these unofficial projects, the Knesset Constitution,
law and Justice Committee began, in 2003, discussions
aimed at writing a formal constitution. 7 Importantly, the "Arab
sector," as the Palestinian Arab citizens are often called in
Israel, was mostly excluded from these projects. It is, perhaps,
illuminating that the Knesset Committee formally invites the
worldwide Jewish community to present their pOints of view
on central constitutional issues, but totally ignores Israeli Palestinians,
a fifth of the population.
It is clear that the appearance of these Jewish documents have
reinforced the need for Israeli Palestinians to present their
ideas about the character of the state and their place within it. s
Rouhana and Sultany even speak of a renewed emphasis on
the Jewishness of Israel since 2000,9 a phenomenon with evident
ramifications for the Palestinian minority. An important
Single factor that sharpened the conflict between the Jewish
majority and Palestinian minority was clearly the events of Oc­
5 See, e.g., Polisar 2005.
6 Jamal 2006, 5.
7 Cook 2004.
8 The influence of the Jewish visions was explicitly mentioned by Shauki Ha­
tib, the Chairman ofthe National Committee for the Heads of the Arab Local
Authorities in Israel and Chairman of the Supreme Arab Monitoring Commit­
tee, in an "Arab-Jewish Encounter on the Future Vision Document" held in
The Peace Ubrary of Givat Haviva, April 18, 2007.
9 Rouhana & Sultany 2003, 6-7.
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