Honestly much of the onus to begin this is on the Palestinian side ...
Could not possibly agree more.
What Israel can do is openly, with out qualifications recognize the Palestinians as a PEOPLE, who have rights of place ...
I believe this has been acknowledged by Israel for a hundred years and counting.
Be cognizant that from it’s founding...Israel is a multi ethnic multi religious state. There should be no preferred class. That is one concern with the new national law...
Hard no on this one.
First, there is NO preferred "class" in Israel, all people are equal under the law.
Second, Israel's founding was SPECIFICALLY to address the self-determination of the Jewish people. It was not intended to be a multi-ethnic, multi-religious state -- it was specifically designed to the be the ONE State in the world where Jewish culture took precedence. This is entirely normal. The break up of Yugoslavia, as an example among MANY, was NOT to create six new multi-ethnic States -- it was to create six definitive States where each could preserve and protect its own unique culture. This is not to say that newly created nations must be thoroughly ethnically cleansed. Most of these states have a minority that remained. Again, this is normal and the fact that Israel is uniquely condemned for both having an Arab minority and for alleged mistreatment of its Arab minority for this is TELLING. The fact that Israel is uniquely required to be multi-ethnic is TELLING. And frankly, no one is DEMANDING that Arab Palestine develop as a multi-ethnic, multi-religious state. In point of fact, the international community, yourself included, is DEMANDING a Jew-free state for Arab Palestine. It is DEMANDING that Jews not be included in any territory which may one day be part of an Arab Palestine state. The point is that national liberation movements revolve around unique cultural and ethnic groups and to require Israel, uniquely, to provide a "multi-ethnic" state is a double standard.
Third, the new national law is exactly identical to numerous national laws in dozens and dozens of countries. Indeed, MOST countries exist exactly for the reason to preserve and protect a specific indigenous culture, and this is especially true of new countries which have emerged in the past 100 years. Now, if you want to suggest that ALL countries created in the past 100 years based on the self-determination of a specific cultural group be rejected, please inform.
Israel MUST make a decision on those areas it controls but won’t incorperate into it’s state. It puts non Israeli citizens in a perpetual limbo with no real rights, no real legal recourse...nothing. So to put it crudely....shit or get off the pot. Offer residents full citizenship or permanent resident status...their choice. Get rid of the grotesquely unfair military justice system, put them all under Israeli civil law and be done with it. That then leaves the area under Palestinian control in a yet to be determined status.
Well, in point of international law, Israel MUST refrain from making unilateral decisions to annex disputed territory. And frankly, I'm a little surprised that you would suggest such a thing. That said, I'm actually inclined to agree with you. In the absence of either a peace process or any sort of Arab Palestinian drive toward peace, self-governance and mutual recognition, the only options are to maintain the status quo or to make unilateral decisions. The problem with annexation, of course, is the risk of creating yet another enclave of shitiness like Gaza or to create a border threat like Iran's Hezbollah in Lebanon. Neither especially good options, though perfectly manageable by Israel as already demonstrated. But, in order to avoid a civil war, on top of the threat from Gaza, from Lebanon and from a newly created West Bank Palestine, I'd be inclined to suggest that the choice of full citizenship or permanent resident status to be unworkable. For the 300,000 Arabs in the areas Israel annexes the choice should be citizenship or nicely compensated "voluntary" deportation.
And finally, "perpetual limbo with no real rights and no real legal recourse" is a direct correlation to violence and harm against Israel. The solution is to be found in the absence of violence and terrorism.
