RAMALLAH, July 19 (Xinhua) -- Palestinian officials slammed on Thursday the passing of Israeli nation state bill into law in a Knesset (parliament) meeting earlier, highlighting its discriminatory nature as "racism".
Secretary General of the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) Saeb Erekat said on his Twitter account that the law is "racism par excellence," and that it "denies the Arab citizens their right to self determination instead to be determined by the Jewish population."
He added that "the 'Jewish Nation-State' bill officially legalized apartheid and legally defines Israel as an apartheid system."
PLO executive committee member Hanan Ashrawi said in a statement that "the 'Jewish Nation-State' law gives license to apartheid, discrimination, ethnic cleansing, and sectarianism at the expense of the Palestinians' rights.
She denounced such "racist and prejudicial legislation" is illegal by all standards of international law, democracy, humanity, and justice.
Ashrawi accused the Israeli government of adopting a "policy of ethnic purity and supremacy, thereby regulating the indigenous Palestinian citizens to second class status."
She decried the U.S. "blind bias for Israel and disdain of international law have emboldened Israel to persist with such unlawful and immoral policies," urging the international community to call this legislation into question.
The Palestinian government spokesperson Yousef Al-Mahmoud said in a press statement that the new law is "racist and attempts to eradicate the Palestinian Arab identity in order to consolidate the seeds of hatred on the ruins of peace that we hope to revive along with our friends all over the world."
"The law speaks about keeping the eternal capital of the Palestinian state, East Jerusalem, under occupation, and encourages settlements as a national value. This is incitement and a green light to continue the settlement," said Al-Mahmoud.
Islamic Hamas movement said the law "is an official legislation of Israeli discrimination, a dangerous targeting of the Palestinian historical rights and existence, and a clear robbery of its property and achievements."
Hamas spokesperson Fawzi Barhoum urged the Arab and Islamic states to take action "against the Israeli occupation and hold it accountable for its systematic violations of the Palestinian people's rights and international resolutions."
The left-wing Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP) also issued a statement saying that this new law "is a declaration of war against the Palestinian existence and its national identity."
The Israeli Knesset approved the Jewish Nation-State Basic Law early Thursday. The law constitutionally enshrines the identity of the State of Israel as the nation-state of the Jewish people.
The law has stirred controversy due to it adopting the ethnic-religious character of Israel as being exclusively Jewish, thus maximizes the privileges enjoyed by Jewish citizens, but not Palestinian citizens.
