The Knesset, Israel's parliament, on Thursday passed a law stating that only Jews have the right to self-determination in the country, something members of the Arab minority have called a racist decision that turns the country into an apartheid state.
The law on the "Jewish nation-state", which was supported by the right-wing government, was approved by 62 votes to 55, with two of the 120 members of the Israeli parliament abstaining, after months of political controversy. Some Israeli Arab lawmakers shouted and tore up copies of the text after the vote.
"This is a defining moment in the history of Zionism and in the history of the State of Israel," Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu told parliament after the process.
The law, which is anything but merely symbolic, was passed shortly after the 70th anniversary of the founding of the state of Israel. It states that "Israel is the historical homeland of the Jewish people and they have the exclusive right to national self-determination in it."
The law abolishes the recognition of Arabic as an official language, equal to Hebrew, downgrading it to a "special regime", while allowing its continued use in some state institutions.
Israeli Arabs number about 1,8 million, about 20% of Israel's population (9 million).
Earlier versions of the text were even more extreme: its critics at home and abroad had pointed out that it openly promoted discrimination against Israeli Arabs, who have been complaining for years about being treated as second-class citizens.
The provisions of the law, which were deleted from the final text, after a fierce battle that continued until the last moment, and only after objections raised by the President and the Minister of Justice, provided for the establishment of exclusively Jewish communities and allowed the courts to rule on the basis of Jewish religious and customary law, in those cases where there was no legal precedent.
Instead, a much more vague wording was adopted. The text states that the state "sees the development of Jewish settlements as a national value" and will therefore "act to encourage and promote their establishment".
Even after the amendments to the most controversial wording, however, critics of the right-wing Israeli government point out that the law will deepen the feeling of alienation of the Arab minority.
"I am announcing to you with shock and sadness the death of democracy," Ahmed Timbi, an Arab parliamentarian, told reporters.
Netanyahu is defending the law. "We will continue to guarantee civil rights in the Republic of Israel, but the majority also has rights and the majority decides," he said last week.
"The vast majority wants to ensure the Jewish character of our state for generations and generations," he added.
The Arab minority in Israel consists mainly of descendants of Palestinians who remained on their land despite the conflict between Arabs and Jews that culminated in the 1948 war immediately after the establishment of the state. Hundreds of thousands of other Palestinians were forced to flee their homes or flee for safety.
Those who remained theoretically enjoy equal rights under the law, but emphasize that they face constant discrimination, inferior public services, unfair distribution of resources for education, health, housing.
In Ma'alot Tarsiha, a municipality in northern Israel created by the unification of the Jewish city of Ma'alot and the Arab city of Tarshiha, the prevailing feeling among most Arabs was anger.
"I think this is a racist law by a far-right government that enacts radical laws and plants the seed to create an apartheid state," said Dr. Bassam Bisara, 71.
"The purpose of this law is (to be implemented) a policy of discrimination. "They want to get rid of the Arabs completely," said Youssef Faraz, 53, from the nearby village of Yanouh, where most Druze live. "The Israelis want to destroy all Arab religions," he added.
Adalah, the legal center for the rights of the Arab minority in Israel, called the law an attempt to impose "the superiority of an ethnic group" by promoting "racist policies".