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Push for Palestinian State Will Hurt Arabs and Jews Alike
(New York Daily News) Alan Dershowitz - What is the Palestinian Authority saying to its own people about what kind of a state Palestine will be? The draft constitution for the new state of Palestine declares that "Islam is the official religion in Palestine." It also states that Sharia law will be "the major source of legislation." It is ironic that the same Palestinian leadership that supports these concepts for Palestine refuses to acknowledge that Israel is the nation-state of the Jewish people. Israel, in contrast to the proposed Palestinian state, does not have an official state religion. Although it is a Jewish state, that description is not a religious one but rather a national one. It accords equal rights to Islam, Christianity and all other religions, as well as to atheists and agnostics. According to statements by the PA leadership, the new Palestinian state would prohibit any Jews from being citizens, from owning land or from even living in the Muslim state of Palestine. In contrast, Israel has more than 1 million Arab citizens, most of whom are Muslims. To summarize, the new Palestinian state will be a genuine apartheid state. It will practice religious and ethnic discrimination, will have one official religion and will base its laws on the precepts of that religion. It is noteworthy that the very people who complain most loudly about Israel's character as the nation-state of the Jewish people are silent when it comes to the new Palestinian state. The writer is a professor at Harvard Law School.