“On the 29th November 1947, the United Nations General br

Assembly passed a resolution calling for the establishment of a br

Jewish State in Eretz Yisrael. This recognition by the United Na- br

tions of the right of the Jewish People to establish their state is ir- br

revocable. This right is the natural right of the Jewish people to be br

masters of their own fate, like all other nations, in their own sov- br

ereign state.

“Accordingly we, members of the People’s Council . . . br

hereby declare the establishment of a Jewish State in Eretz br

Yisrael to be known as the State of Israel.

“The State of Israel will be open for Jewish immigration and br

for the Ingathering of the Exiles. . . .”

Note the innumerable clear statements of what Israel is br

meant to be. The land is “the birthplace of the Jewish people.” br

The first words of the declaration of the state set the tone. It is br

the birthplace of the Jew—not the Arab—and it is the Jews who br

were “exiled from their land”; it is the Jews “who kept faith br

with it” and “never ceased to pray and hope for their return.” br

Can we seriously expect the Arab to feel equal or to have a share br

in such a state? A declaration of independence that he is ex- br

pected to see as his own begins by speaking of the land as the br

birthplace of the Jewish people. But he is not a Jew. The decla- br

ration speaks of an exile and a dream of return, but the Arab br

was not exiled, and if anything the dream of return of the Jew br

was the hope of making the Arab a minority. For the Arab who br

dreamed of Jews not returning, the Jewish dream is a nightmare!

When the Israeli Arab is told to rise for “his” national an- br

them, “Hatikvah” (the “hope”), and sing of “the Jewish soul br

yearning” and “the hope of 2,000 years,” can he be expected to br

feel empathy? Indeed, Israel’s resident self-hater, Uri Avnery, br

proposed in 1975 to change the anthem. His reason made br

eminently good sense—if you were an anti-Zionist: the song’s br

motif of Jewish longing for Israel is not acceptable to Israel’s br

Arabs. When the Israeli Arab looks upon the happy revelers on br

Israeli Independence Day, celebrating, in effect, the Arab defeat br

and the displacement of an Arab majority of Palestine by a Jew- br

ish majority of Israel, can he be seriously expected to join in? br

When, in the words of the Declaration of Independence, the br

Law of Return opens the gates “for Jewish immigration” and br

not Arab influx, for the cousins of the residents of Tel Aviv but br