RNA - According to a report by Al Jazeera on Thursday, Israeli lawmakers have endorsed the controversial draft law for first reading.
The proposed “Basic Law” was approved by the Israeli parliament’s justice committee this week, and is now expected to be fast-tracked in the legislature and on to the statute books in the coming weeks.
Amir Ohana, the committee’s chair, called it the “law of all laws,” while a cabinet minister termed it “Zionism’s flagship bill.”
The law, which is a redraft of an original bill in 2011, would exclude almost everyone other than the Jews from the right to governance in the entire occupied Palestinian territories. It demotes the status of the Arabic language and leaves Hebrew as the only official language of Israel.
The measure also enables the regime consolidate its illegal hold on East Jerusalem al-Quds and the occupied West Bank as it could introduce legislation based on the “Basic Law,” which allows annexation of more territories from the West Bank to Jerusalem al-Quds and to strip tens of thousands of Palestinians of their residency rights in the city.
Critics have described the proposed legislation impinges on the rights of the Arab minority, which makes up some 20 percent of Israel’s population.
The regime is seemingly emboldened by US President Donald Trump’s decision in December to recognize Jerusalem al-Quds as the capital of Israel. Despite growing criticism, Trump has vowed he would go on with plans to relocate US embassy to the city.
The international community views Israel’s annexation of East Jerusalem al-Quds, which came in late 1980 and following an invasion in the 1967 Arab War, as illegal. It says the fate of the entire Jerusalem al-Quds should be decided in future negotiations with the Palestinians.
However, Israel has sought plans to expel its Arab residents from the neighborhood and skew the city's demography towards a solid Jewish majority.
East Jerusalem al-Quds is home to the al-Aqsa Mosque, the third holiest site for Muslims.
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