Jabareen to OECD: Nationality Law contradicts Israel's obligations and deepens discrimination

Dr Yousef Jabareen MK, Head of the Committee on International Relations in the Joint List, has warned the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) of the economic and social consequences of the recent ‘Nation-State’ Law.

This warning was outlined in a letter to the Secretary-General of the OECD, Angel Gurría. Jabareen also explained that the law represents a  grave violation of the status and rights of the Palestinian minority in Israel, and contradicts the organisation’s recent recommendations to the Israeli government.

In his letter, Jabareen explained in detail the dangerous provisions of the Nationality Law that contradict international principles, standards and resolutions, including the rules of the organisation itself, as well as the denial of the rights of the Palestinian people and their natural right to self-determination.

The letter addressed the blatant violation of the principle of equality, which is supposed to be one of the basic tenets of any state claiming to have a democratic regime, precisely through the granting of Jewish supremacy at the expense of the Arab citizens of the state, the original people of the country.

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Jabareen addressed the law’s violation of the socio-economic status of Arab citizens through granting priorities to the Jews in the distribution of resources instead of equitable distribution, which guarantees the rights of all citizens to an equal allocation of the state’s resources, especially in the field of housing and urban development. He stressed that this discrimination in the law “may deepen the economic gaps between Arabs and Jews, and hinder the process of Arab citizens’ involvement in the labour market and higher education institutions.”

Jabareen stressed in his letter to the Organisation’s Secretary-General that: “The provisions of the Nationality Law contradict Israel’s commitments when it joined the Organisation. They also violate the OECD’s recommendations to the State of Israel in recent years. These recommendations call for the development of the economy, education and employment in the Arab society and aim at reducing socio-economic differences between Arabs and Jews.”

At the end of the letter, Jabareen called on the OECD to intervene and pressure the Israeli government to cancel this racist legislation and to take serious steps in this regard to protect the rights and status of the Arab citizens of Israel.

A delegation from the Joint List and Mossawa Center met with UN Secretary-General Gurría at the end of last year at the organisation’s headquarters in Paris. Jabareen met Israel’s economic matters official in the organisation at the beginning of last month in Paris before the Knesset’s vote on the Nationality Law.

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