National rights vs. group rights
MK Chayne (Shinui) inquired about the national rights of the Palestinians as a nation. MK Eitan clarified the issue, saying the Palestinians have group rights as a minority, not national rights as a Palestinian nation. MK Chayne added that all individual rights must be safeguarded in the constitution, but the national aspirations and rights should be given to the Palestinians – in a Palestinian state. And he expects the Palestinian state to give the same rights to Jews that are given to Palestinians in Israel.

Limit collective and national rights
MK Gideon Sa’ar (Likud) told the Committee that he was skeptical of the constitution allowing collective rights to Arabs, with the possible exception of the right to proportional representation. He was concerned about the aspect of collective rights which could become an instrument of Arab separatism in Israel. He warned that minorities may take too much advantage of the term “minority rights”. It should not be all take and no give; the Arabs must speak of responsibilities as well as of rights if they want to be equal partners.  
 
MK Sa’ar said that he did not support national rights of a minority. He thought that Arabic should cease to be an official language, because that status is a relic from a time when Arabs were the majority. It is not Israel’s place to safeguard these rights, though the Arab minority has the right to work towards them. [MK Sa’ar has suggested making Hebrew the only official language, with Arabic granted special status in the constitution.]
 
Arab rights and the Israeli-Palestinian Conflict
MK Nissim Ze’ev (Shas) said that these issues are tied up in the fact that we are still in an armed conflict, and as a result of the fear caused by this conflict there will be hesitations in the allowances of rights as well as a reduction in rights. He also added that there exists an additional fear that the Arab minority might change the Jewish character of the state.  
 
Dr. Mana’ voiced the opinion that equality between Arabs and Jews will not exist before Israel settles the Palestinian issue and ends its occupation and killing. The most important element in establishing equality is a change in the politics and mindset of the majority of Israel. But a constitution with the proper content could help bring about equality. 
 
It is possible to have minority rights while maintaining Israel’s Jewishness?
MK Tamir (Labor-Meimad) explained that Israel could afford to extend more equality rights to minorities without sacrificing its Jewish character. For example, equality in distribution of resources is irrelevant to Israel’s Jewishness. In fact, MK Tamir thought that a Jewish state should be better than most states at equal distribution of resources to its minorities.
Israel currently gives its Arab minority many things that minorities in other nations do not have, including linguistic autonomy and media outlets, and this could be the basis of the establishment of rights for the Arab minority. She said that the establishment of a Palestinian state should effect no change.

Tensions between collective and individual rights
Professor Gavison brought forth a number of considerations:
1. There are groups other than Arabs that deserve collective rights in Israel, including the Haredim. (MK Burg voiced a similar sentiment in the first meeting, asking those attending to consider foreign workers, Russian immigrants, and other non-Jews. He said that Jews, having been minorities in so many places, must be very sensitive to this issue). Additionally, Gavison said, we must remember that recognizing Jewish and Arab collective rights also requires a recognition of women’s rights, especially Muslim women’s rights, be they religious or secular.

2. The court – an undemocratic body – will ultimately interpret the constitution. We must not “[W]ake up one morning to find that we have a rigid constitution without having known or seen or read or been asked for our opinion about it." Such a constitution, says Gavison, is nothing less than coercion by a narrow elite seeking to impose a homogenous set of values, enforced by the Supreme Court on a very heterogenous population.

3. Every debate on rights involves contradictions between collective and Individual rights.   To frame the issue of collective and individual rights, Gavison cited Supreme Court Justice Mishael Cheshin’s minority opinion from Adalah v. Tel Aviv-Jaffa et al. Professor Gavison stated that Supreme Court Chief Justice Aharon Barak awarded the Arab minority only in a partial way, in that Barak’s reasoning was limited to the individual rights of Arabs to Arabic signage. Cheshin disagreed that this was a right of the Arab minority. He thought it was important, but not to be qualified as a right, as something the Arabs can demand from the courts. Jabarin, meanwhile, did not accept that the ruling in Adalah helped the Arabs. “Why do the signs say the same Hebrew word in Arabic letters?” he asked. Jabarin made the additional point that the Arab minority is not an immigrant population, but a native one on whom Israel was foisted and thus, deserves special status and recognition of their historical rights. 
 
Professor Gavison argued that the majority is bound to protect the rights of the minority, but not every interest of the minority is its right. We must differentiate between the minority’s rights and its desires, Gavison explained, going on to explain what minority rights in Israel could look like at a practical level:

• The right of a group to defend itself from being swallowed up by the majority. This translates into separate educational systems (Professor Asher Maoz of Tel Aviv University agreed on this point) with Arabic and Hebrew as well as important elements of Arabic culture (including, for example, teaching about the naqba, or catastrophe, suffered by Arabs displaced in 1948, or the poetry of Mahmoud Darwish). However this does not mean total autonomy in these areas.
• The Official language of the State (link to cfisrael site on issues concerning language) should be Hebrew. Arabic should be strengthened in practice, but weakened in rights. She argued that the Arab fight over language is symbolic and important, but cannot be defined as a right.
• Arabs have a right to proportional representation. The question of how Arab representatives are chosen is cardinal.

• We need to have discussions regarding how proud Arabs will teach their children to be proud Arab citizens in Israel.
• She noted that Jews are a majority in Israel, but a minority in the Middle East and in the world, and that they need a place where they have self-determination. A child who is taught that the Jewish state is racist and illegitimate, believing he is living under an illegitimate system, will never grow up to be a good citizen.
• Arabs must accept that Israel is legitimate, even if perhaps temporary.

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