Israeli Cabinet approves controversial 'Jewish nation-state' bill

Israel has greenlighted a national debate on a controversial bill that would anchor the apartheid state's status as exclusively a Jewish one, further discriminating against Arabs and setting up a further barrier to a peace process with Palestine. Arabic speakers would "have the right to language-accessible state services" but it would not be an official language.

The objective of the bill is to "protect the status of Israel as the nation-state of the Jewish people", said a statement from Avi Dichter, a lawmaker from Netanyahu's Likud Party.

The nation-state bill, proponents say, would put Jewish values and democratic values on equal footing.

Abbas said he briefed his German counterpart "on all that are doing to bring freedom and independence to our Palestinian people, particularly our meeting last week with President Trump, who answered our invitation and whom we look forward to meeting in Bethlehem".

But the cabinet-level step, two weeks before a visit by US President Donald Trump, could help Netanyahu shore up relations with far-right members of his government and underpin his campaign to press Palestinians to recognise Israel as the "nation-state" of the Jewish people.

Efforts to pass such a bill follow demands by Netanyahu in peace talks that Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas recognize Israel as a Jewish state.

If passed by the Knesset, the law would become one of Israel's Basic Laws, each of which carry constitutional weight in Israel's legal system in light of the absence of a constitution.

U.S. president Donald Trump is scheduled to meet both Netenyahu and Abbas in his upcoming state visit to Israel, in an attempt to broker peace.

Dichter called the legislation "an important step in entrenching our identity, not only in consciousness of the world but primarily in our own minds".

"The danger of this bill is that it creates two classes of citizens", the Times of Israel quoted Ayman Odeh as saying. "To be a free people in our land", said Dichter after the committee's vote.

Netanyahu's rightwing government says the groups unfairly tarnish Israel and strengthen the arguments of its enemies. "Events of recent months prove that this is a battle for the Israel's image and national identity. The Palestinians no longer hide their goal of erasing the Jewish people's nation state". A number of versions of the legislation have been drafted by right-wing lawmakers. "Jews will get preference over all other citizens, clearly violating human rights, democracy and the rights of the Arab minority in Israel", she said.