THE ARAB MINORITY IN ISRAEL BETWEEN THE ABSENCE OF A WRITTEN CONSTITUTION AND THE ENFORCEMENT OF THE INTERNATIONAL LAW

Abstract

            Since the foundation of the state of Israel in 1948, there has been contention in the scholar and practitioner literature concerning the well-being of Arab minorities. One of the common concerns is how minority rights and protected and guaranteed in Israel in light of the absence of a written constitution and whether enforcement of international law is implemented in Israel. The objective of this study was to examine the impact of the absences on a written constitution and the enforcement of international law on the Arab minorities in Israel. To explore this objective, three sub-questions were formulated. To answer these research questions, mixed-method research was adopted where data was collected quantitatively using survey questions, and qualitatively using interview sessions, and focus group discussions. In the first part, which was a preliminary study, relevant data were collected from 30 participants (who included lawyers, teachers, judges, a member of the Knesset, scholars, and regular people) using both interviews and focus group sessions. In the second part of the study, data were collected from 200 participants who included lawyers, teachers, judges, scholars, and regular people from the Arab minority groups in Israel. Results obtained from the interview sessions, focus-group discussions, and survey questionnaires all reveal three main issues. First, Israel lacks a written constitution because of several factors that can be summarized into historical, political, social and cultural contexts. Second, the absence of a written constitution in Israel has diverse negative impacts on the well-being of the Arab minorities in Israel in terms of exacerbating violations of their basic rights. Third, results revealed that the scope of international law, especially when considering human rights, is limited in its enforcement in Israel. In conclusion, the lack of a written constitution in Israel largely disadvantages Arab minorities in accessing their basic rights, while the enforcement of international law to Israel largely remains ineffective.