The Commonwealth of Jerusalem
The Jerusalem Commonwealth
Building Bipartisan Cooperation while
Maintaining Self-Determination for Israel and Palestine
Rationale
This proposed model assumes that the
two state solution may never materialize, and instead proposes an alternative
solution: a political structure where self-governing territories for both
Palestinians and Israelis are empowered to fulfill their communities’ aspirations,
and where the two communities come together in a commonwealth system that
carefully and deliberately balances and shares power. The aim is to replace the current military
and sometimes violent sectarian conflict with a political system for sustained
conflict resolution and negotiation in a bipartisan commonwealth government
structured to promote cooperation and pursuing shared interests and mutual
benefits, without sacrificing security.
Key points in
summary
·
A commonwealth of
Israel and the West Bank with Jerusalem as the unifying and iconic capital city,
rather than as a symbol of division over which two rival states quarrel to make
it their own separate capitals.
·
A bicameral commonwealth
parliament with two chambers, the Hebrew Chamber and the Arabic Chamber. Citizens throughout the commonwealth can
stand for election or vote for candidates of either Chamber, but the role of
the Hebrew Chamber would be to promote and protect Jewish aspirations, and the
Arabic Chamber those of the Palestinians and Arab Israelis.
·
Legislation would
need the assent of both chambers to become law, so that bipartisanship would be
essential and inherent at the commonwealth level, and the parliament would tend
towards seeking shared interests and mutual benefits rather than extremist or
confrontational positions.
·
Giving both
chambers of parliament the right to veto legislation means that demographic
concerns of being out-numbered would have little importance, as the size of
each chamber does not affect the ability to veto. While deadlock is
possible, mechanisms can be found to break such deadlocks.
·
The executive would
not be led by a prime minister or president, but instead the executive would be
a directorate[1], seven
equal members of an Executive Council, members of parliament chosen by their
peers, which because of the demographic balance between Jewish and non-Jewish
communities, would be essentially bipartisan (likely to have four Jewish and
three Palestinian Councilors).
·
There would be territory
governments, each with its own unicameral assembly and executive, governing three
areas: Israel, the West Bank, and Jerusalem.
·
Addressing the enormous
problems existing in the Gaza Strip would be critical to the success of the commonwealth,
and Gaza would be developed as a dependent special territory associated but not
a full part of the Jerusalem Commonwealth until such time it can be admitted as
the fourth territory of the commonwealth, contingent on recognition of the
right of the Jewish people to a homeland in Israel.
·
Unlike the two
state solution, a commonwealth means freedom of movement and residency for all citizens
across all three territories, allowing Jewish settlements to remain and
Palestinian refugees to return to Israel, but both in an agreed controlled
manner.
While most democracies have a
governing party or coalition and an opposition, this adversarial majority-rules governance would be counter-productive,
in that it would divide rather than unite and build peace between Israel and
Palestine. In contrast, in the unicameral territory parliaments, majority
rule would apply, so that territories governments can seek to advance their
people’s aspirations.
THE JERUSALEM COMMONWEALTH
IN DETAIL
The Lands of
the Jerusalem Commonwealth
The
Jerusalem Commonwealth (‘the commonwealth’) would include the current territory of Israel and the West
Bank with the City of Jerusalem as its capital.
The Gaza Strip could be a dependent Territory
in formal association with the Commonwealth until such time it can be fully included. The Golan Heights could also be
included subject to negotiations.
Citizenship
All current Israeli citizens, long term residents of Israel and the
West Bank, and Palestinian refugees residing in
the West Bank would automatically become ‘founding’ citizens of the Commonwealth. Future rights to citizenship for new immigrants would be granted as set
out below. In this proposal, the term Palestinian will be
taken to include Arab Israelis, Druze, Bedouins and other non-Jewish communities indigenous to Palestine.
The Commonwealth
Territories
Territory of Israel
Based on the current six Israeli
administrative districts but without the metropolitan portion of the Israeli
district of Jerusalem.
The West Bank Territory of Palestine
Based on the 11 governorates of the
West Bank including Al-Quds but without the metropolitan portion in East
Jerusalem. The ‘Judea and Samaria Area’ would no longer exist as an administrative unit, and West Bank Jewish
settlements would be a part of this territory.
Capital Territory of Jerusalem
Jerusalem City, including both West
and East Jerusalem, but not including the remaining non-metropolitan portions
of the current Israeli district of Jerusalem and the Palestinian governorate of
Al-Quds. It would not only be the
Commonwealth capital, but also the location of both Israel and West Bank territorial
assemblies and governments.
Gaza Special Territory of Palestine
Initially, the Gaza Strip would be a
dependent territory of the commonwealth, the Gaza Special Territory, capital in
Gaza City. The people of Gaza would have
autonomy to run their own affairs, but not have representation in the Commonwealth
parliament. The IDF would manage its borders and maintain security. The territory would be eligible for full
membership of the commonwealth following a process of economic integration and
deradicalization, and recognition of the Territory of Israel as a Jewish
homeland.
Golan Heights and Land Swaps
Golan Heights would be returned to
Syria, unless otherwise agreed during peace negotiations including potentially
involving land swaps and following a plebiscite that supported annexation, as
either a commonwealth administered district or part of the Territory of Israel.
The territories would maintain
sovereignty over their territory borders but could negotiate internal land
swaps if mutually agreeable. However,
only the Commonwealth Government would have the power to negotiate land swaps
with Egypt, Jordan, Lebanon or Syria but such swaps would be subject to the
approval of the relevant Territory government.
Population of
the Commonwealth
The estimated populations of the four territories in 2020 are in table 1
below.
TERRITORY
|
TOTAL (000)
|
JEWISH
(000 and %)
|
PALESTINIAN
(000
and %)
|
ELECTED REPRESENTATIVES
|
ISRAEL
|
7570
|
5667 (74.9)
|
1903 (25.1)
|
151
|
WEST BANK
|
3173
|
418 (13.4)
|
2755 (86.6)
|
63
|
JERUSALEM
|
919
|
556 (60.6)
|
363 (39.4)
|
18
|
COMMONWEALTH TOTAL
|
11,662
|
6641 (56.9)
|
5021 (43.1)
|
232
|
GAZA
|
2048
|
0 (0)
|
2048 (100)
|
40
|
The population estimates are based on latest
official estimates for 2018 as at 19 September 2019 from the Central Bureaus
of Statistics, of Israel and
2020 projection from the Palestinian Bureau of Statistics released on 6 March 2020 as found at https://www.citypopulation.de/Asia.html .
Division of
Power between Territory and Commonwealth Governments
As far as possible, the functions of Government would remain mostly in
the domain of the territories, but certain powers would need to be ceded to the
Commonwealth Government as shown in table 2.
Table 2 : areas of
responsibility for Territory governments and the Commonwealth government
Territory
Government
|
Commonwealth
Government
|
Health,
Sport and Recreation
|
Defense
|
Education
and Research
|
Internal
Security and Justice
|
Social
Services, Child Care
|
Foreign
Affairs and Trade
|
Environment,
Water, Antiquities and Tourism
|
Immigration
and Citizenship
|
Planning, Housing,
Local Government
|
Taxation and
Economic policy
|
Territory
Law and Justice, Prisons
|
Commonwealth
Law (Attorney General)
|
Employment, Local
Transport, Road and Rail
|
Air transport,
Ports, Communication
|
Elected
Representatives
A national election would be held every four years to choose
parliamentary representatives. Elected
representatives would sit in the three unicameral territory assemblies according
to the electorates which they represent and in addition, the bicameral
commonwealth parliament. This dual parliamentary
role would minimize the risk of conflict between the commonwealth and territory
governments and engender a sense of unity of purpose. It would underline that the territories’
representatives are coming together in Jerusalem to form a joint commonwealth
government that serves both the Jewish and Palestinian peoples. Elected representatives thus are responsible
for decision making at both territory and commonwealth level.
Members of parliament would be elected
by proportional representation with one representative per 50,000 population. Based on the current populations, Israelis
would be entitled to 151 representatives, the West Bank Palestinians 63, and
citizens in Jerusalem 18, for a total of 232 elected representatives. Twenty-two electoral districts would be
created so that elected representatives would be more directly accountable at a
local level to the voters in their respective districts (table 3). Compulsory
voting by all adult citizens would ensure equality of representation across the
commonwealth.
notes on table 3:
1. Hebron: Hebron governorate but some northern areas included in the Central Palestine electorate
2. Central Palestine: Bethlehem, northern Hebron, and parts of Al-Quds east of Jerusalem toward the Dead Sea
|
3. Ramallah: Ramallah and portion of Al-Quds west of East Jerusalem and south of Ramallah
|
4. Jordan Valley: Jericho, Tubas and Jenin governorates
|
5. Western Palestine: Salfit, Tulkarem and Qalqilyah governorates
|
8. Negev: Ashkelon and regions** to the south east in the Negev and Eilat
|
9. Beersheba: Beersheba and Dead Sea regions
|
10. Ashdod: Ashdod and hinterland between the sea and Jerusalem City
11. Ramla: Ramla including southern parts of Petah Tiqwa
|
12. Eastern Metro.: Ramat Gan and environs within Tel Aviv District
|
13. Southern Metro.: Holon and environs within Tel Aviv District
|
20. Lower Galilee: Nazareth and Shefar’am regions
|
21. Upper Galilee Akko, Nahariyya, Karmiel, and north towards the Lebanese border
22. Eastern Galilee Zefat, Kinneret and Yizreel sub districts except Nazareth region
** here region refers to ‘natural regions’ as defined by the Israeli Central Bureau of Statistics.
|
The threshold is the percentage of the votes cast required for a candidate to be elected. The proposed electoral districts were devised so that the number of elected representatives per district is consistently between 8 and 12, using as far as practicable existing Israeli and Palestinian administrative divisions. This means the threshold to get elected is between 8.33% and 12.5% by the single transferrable vote method of proportional representation, thus raising the threshold for election used currently in the Israeli election system. The exception would be Jerusalem with 18 elected representatives.
Territory
Governments
The three territories would each have its own unicameral assembly located
in Jerusalem. In the Israeli and West Bank territory
assemblies, the parties that could form a simple majority would form the
territory government. The leader of the
Government would be the Chief Minister and appoint a Territory Cabinet with ministerial
portfolios as per table 2 above. Chief
Ministers would automatically be members of the Commonwealth Executive Council (see below) to represent their Territory.
The Commonwealth Legislature
The Commonwealth Parliament would be
bicameral, with a Hebrew Chamber and an Arabic Chamber. The role of the Hebrew Chamber would be to
promote and protect Jewish aspirations, and the Arabic Chamber those of the
Palestinians and Arab Israelis. Legislation proposed by the Commonwealth
Executive Council (see below) would need the assent of both houses to be
passed. Thus, neither community could impose its will on the
other. If the two houses became deadlocked, a joint sitting with a two thirds
majority could override any veto. Each chamber would have a Speaker who
could act as spokesperson for their community’s interests, and have
parliamentary committees to study, review, scrutinize and propose amendments to
Executive Council legislation. While
segregating parliament along ethnic lines may seem at first unpalatable and run
counter to building unity, the advantages of this division are:
·
it offers a stronger voice for Israeli Arabs and West Bank Jewish
settlers who would be in minority populations within Israel and the West Bank
level;
·
most importantly, it removes the fears of both communities of being
outnumbered either now or in the future.
Candidates for
election would nominate for either the Hebrew or Arabic chamber of the
commonwealth parliament. For example, in
the Beersheba electorate all successful candidates, whether Jewish, Arabs or
Bedouin, would sit in the Knesset but if voters voted according to ethnicity, four
would be elected to the Hebrew Chamber and six to the Arabic chamber for their
commonwealth role. At the commonwealth
level, the numbers in each chamber would be 132 and 100 respectively, assuming
voters are in the same proportion as the general population. However, while mainstream voting would be
expected to largely follow such a pattern, smaller minorities such as Druze,
Bedouin and Arab Christians may be more variable in choosing which chamber
would be best for their interests.
The Commonwealth Executive
There would be no president or prime
minister of the Commonwealth; executive functions of government would be
fulfilled by the Commonwealth Executive Council of seven elected
representatives, appointed by a joint
sitting of both houses of the Commonwealth Parliament for a term of four years.
The Council would provide collective
leadership in areas of government
functions that cannot be retained by the territories. For example, a suggested model for the essential functional roles of the Executive Councilors could
be the following:
1. Presiding Officer of the Council, ceremonial head of state,
and Councilor for Jerusalem Administration
2. Deputy Presiding Officer,
Councilor for Population and Migration
3. Councilor for Defense
4. Foreign Affairs and Trade
Councilor
5. Councilor for Home
Affairs, Internal Security and the Commonwealth Police, and Gaza Special
Territory
6. Councilor for the
Economy, Transport, and Communications
7. Attorney General and
Councilor for Protection of Minorities
If voting for the Commonwealth Executive
Council would be by proportional representation of a joint sitting of both
houses and voting was along purely communal lines, then the number of Jewish Executive Councilors elected would be four,
and three would be Palestinians. Furthermore,
the Executive Council would inherently reflect the full spectrum of the parties
elected according to their voting strength in the parliament, so would always need
consensus decision making as no single bloc would ever achieve a majority. As well as ensuring both communities are
represented, so too would the left and right wings of party politics, secular
and religious, etc. Alternatively,
election to the Executive Council could require a two thirds majority, which
would tend to empower moderates acceptable to both communities and marginalize
extremists from both communities. To
function effectively, the Executive Councilors would need to take a bipartisan
approach, find shared interests and work
cooperatively. Executive
Councilors would no longer participate in parliamentary divisions, in order to
promote Council unity and solidarity and avoid schisms in the executive, and no
longer sit in their respective territory assemblies.
The Chief Ministers of Israel and the
West Bank would automatically be non-voting members of the Commonwealth
Executive Council without ministerial portfolio responsibilities.
The existing legal frameworks would
continue at territory level. There would
be two Supreme Courts, one for
Israeli legal matters and the other for Palestinian matters. Israeli law would
continue to apply in the Territory of Israel, and likewise Palestinian laws would apply in the
territory of West Bank. A new
Commonwealth High Court would be established to adjudicate on matters involving the Commonwealth government and inter-territory disputes. In the Capital
Territory of Jerusalem, initially Israeli laws would apply during a transition
to a Commonwealth legal system, but the lower courts in the territory would be directly
under the jurisdiction of the Commonwealth High Court. Seven High Court judges would be nominated by the Executive Council and confirmed by both
houses of parliament. At least three
places should be reserved for Jewish judges, and three for Palestinian judges.
Security
Recognizing the current existential
threat to Israel from terror groups and hostile states, responsibility for
defense of the Commonwealth would remain with the existing IDF initially. Over time if these threats to Israel’s
existence sufficiently diminish, the IDF
would become an integrated Commonwealth Defense Force. Until then, the IDF would have authority over
all external borders including the border with Gaza. The IDF would have no authority over internal
civilian movements, and IDF bases in the West Bank would be for purely
defensive purposes against external threats.
Israeli and Palestinian police forces
would continue to function separately within their respective territories. A bipartisan Commonwealth Police would be
responsible for security and policing in the Capital Territory and important designated
holy sites anywhere. These three police
forces would be responsible for internal security.
The intelligence services would be
under the authority of the Commonwealth Government, but during a transition period
the existing services would continue separately to report also to their
respective territory governments.
Rights to Free Movement, Employment and Residence
All 11.7 million ‘founding’
Palestinian and Israeli citizens resident at the time of formation of the
Jerusalem Commonwealth would be
entitled to free movement and employment throughout the Commonwealth.
Similarly, ‘founding’ citizens
would have the right to take residence anywhere in the Commonwealth. Founding Jewish citizens would have the right to live in the West
Bank territory and founding
Palestinian citizens would have the right to live in the Territory of Israel,
but new housing would be subject to territory approval.
Freedom of movement would be subject
to existing security checks and
controls, including where necessary separation barriers. However, the West Bank separation barrier
would have to be relocated from places that currently unduly disadvantage
Palestinian economic and family activities.
Citizens would be automatically allowed access to any area of the
Commonwealth, provided they pass the security checks deemed necessary by the
respective security services. The right
to access sensitive sites such as religious places of worship and holy sites
may be subject to extra controls.
Population and Migration
The right of return of Palestinian
refugees and the Law of Return for overseas Jewish populations would be broadly maintained, subject to negotiations of annual quotas between the Commonwealth
government and the territories. In principle, arrival of returning Palestinian refugees and
Jewish immigration would be done with a target
of maintaining the current demographic status quo. Territory Governments would be accorded
the right to determine which immigrants they accept, with the exception of the Capital
Territory of Jerusalem, where immigration intake would be directly determined
by the Commonwealth government.
Return of Palestinian refugees from outside the Commonwealth would be prioritized to those refugees who are
currently stateless (such as those in Lebanon and Syria),
contingent on those countries making peace with Israel.
To ensure new citizens have been well
integrated into the Commonwealth society, they would have a waiting period of
ten years before being accorded the right to the freedom of residence which
existing citizens of the commonwealth would have. For example, a
Palestinian refugee who has returned from Lebanon and been accepted to reside
in the West Bank with only four years of citizenship would not have the right
to reside in Israel unless that territory consented. The international community would need to
play its part by increasing third country resettlement, to avoid sudden population
strains within the Commonwealth.
Protection of
Minority Communities
Jewish communities living in the Territory of West Bank and Palestinian communities living in
the Territory of Israel would be
able to apply for minority status, on the
basis of security or significant cultural concerns.
Applications would be made by local government authorities to the
Commonwealth government, and
providing consent is provided by the relevant
territory, be accepted. If the territory government withholds consent,
adjudication would be by the Commonwealth High Court. Local governments
afforded minority status would have the right to civil protection. For
example, Jewish settlements in the
West Bank could apply to come under Israeli police protection. Minority
status would apply to local governments and not
individuals. For example, individual Jewish citizens wishing to take residence
in Hebron could not apply for
special police protection. Protection of minority communities could apply
automatically at the founding of the commonwealth, particularly to Jewish
settlements. Minority communities could also be exempted from territory
laws that are a significant challenge to that community’s culture. Territories
could thus develop cultural, religious and moral codes in keeping with the
majority’s wishes, but without infringing on minorities’ sensitivities, thus
avoiding internal ‘cultural wars’.
Integration
of Gaza into an Expanded Commonwealth
While the Gaza strip is in a sense an
independent city state already, the poverty, the collapsing infrastructure,
militancy and capacity to destabilize the commonwealth must be addressed as a
key element to founding the Commonwealth. Integration of the Gaza Special
Territory into the economy of the Commonwealth should begin as early as
possible, through privileged access to its economy through work visas, and
favorable customs and trade arrangements.
The international community would need to play a major role in providing
investment to boost the Gaza economy.
Residents of Gaza would elect their
own Assembly which would have a very large degree of autonomy, but its territory
borders would be maintained by the IDF. Subject
to security assessment, Gazans would have the right to free movement within the
Commonwealth, but not the right to reside, which would be at the discretion of
the Territory Governments. Gazans would
gain access to special passports issued by the Jerusalem Commonwealth to allow
international travel but would not have the right to vote in the Commonwealth
Parliament. The Gaza government would be
able to take disputed matters in its relations with Israel or the other
territories to the Commonwealth High Court.
Gaza could later join as the fourth
Territory of the Commonwealth, with a territory capital in Gaza City, and sending
40 elected representatives to Jerusalem, provided it met the following
conditions:
·
demonstrated de-weaponization
with independent checks and monitoring carried out by commonwealth security
forces;
·
recognition by
the Gaza Special Territory government of the rights of the Jewish people to a
homeland in Israel;
·
the Gaza
government would have to demonstrate free and fair election processes during
its period as an associated territory.
Economic incentives for Commonwealth
business to invest in Gaza should be developed, such as freedom from business
taxes and reduced goods and services taxes. Security measures to prevent
arms violations would be maintained by the IDF, until such time as they are no longer necessary, however
the naval blockade would end, and trade boycotts lifted at the earliest
opportunity.
Expansion of the Commonwealth to
include Gaza Special Territory would increase the numbers of elected
representatives in the Arabic Chamber and influence the composition of the Commonwealth
Executive Council, but the veto power of the Hebrew Chamber would be unchanged,
and the balance of power in the Territory Assemblies of Israel, Jerusalem and
West Bank completely unaltered (see table 5).
In the long term, Gaza could be developed as an important free trade hub
in the eastern Mediterranean.
Income and corporate taxes would be collected by the Commonwealth
Government, while Goods and Services and Property taxes would be collected by
the territories. Reducing the existing
wealth disparity between Israelis and Palestinians will be a major challenge,
and while the tax and social welfare systems would play a role, the burden
should not fall wholly on the tax payers.
Reductions in security spending and wealth generation resulting from increased
economic activity would need to be managed to focus on providing equality of
opportunity as rapidly as possible across the territories. The Israeli Shekel would be re-branded as the
Jerusalem Shekel, one side of notes and coins in Hebrew the other in Arabic.
Census and Electoral Oversight
To avoid corrupt processes in both
population statistics and elections, it would be highly desirable that a single
bipartisan Bureau of Statistics and a single fully impartial and independent
electoral commission be formed, with the possibility of UN oversight or other
means of independent monitoring.
The electoral system would be overhauled
to make the elected representatives locally accountable to defined voters. Seventeen electoral districts each
electing 11 – 18 representatives would
be created based on current Israeli sub-districts and Palestinian governorates
(annex 3).
Flags
A new Jerusalem Commonwealth flag
would fly over commonwealth buildings and throughout the Capital Territory; the
Palestinian flag would fly throughout the West Bank Territory, and the Star of
David flag over Israel.
Conclusion
The strength of the proposed Jerusalem
Commonwealth is that the political system would be reconfigured to ensure power
sharing and cooperation at the commonwealth level while allowing self-determination
at territory level and does not rely on an improbable outbreak of goodwill or
self-sacrifice by either community. The
model promotes and empowers moderation and bipartisanship and marginalizes extremism.
Particular benefits to highlight are as follows:
For Israelis:
·
Increased Palestinian
support would be fostered for achieving peace deals with Arab and other
neighboring states, including to recognition of the right of the Jewish people
to their homeland in Israel.
·
Israel’s military
would maintain strong defense of the borders and current security checks and
barriers would be maintained as necessary, but the huge cost of security would
be expected to fall substantially.
·
Israelis would be
able to live anywhere in the Commonwealth, throughout Judea and Samaria, and
existing settlements would become legal, internationally recognized, and still protected
by Israeli security.
·
New economic
opportunities arise in the West Bank, and possibly the Gaza Strip.
·
Israeli law
maintained in the territory of Israel.
·
Jewish customs,
culture and right to self-determination throughout the Commonwealth, but
particularly in the Territory of Israel.
For Palestinians and other non-Jewish communities:
·
Citizenship for
all existing residents and over time, those who resettle from neighboring
countries, in an open democratic society where human rights are respected and
effective anti-corruption measures would be in place.
·
Access to
employment and residency throughout the Commonwealth.
·
Freedom of
movement and right to travel beyond the Commonwealths borders.
·
Palestinian law
maintained in the territory of West Bank.
·
Arab customs,
culture and right to self-determination throughout the Commonwealth, but
particularly in the West Bank Territory of Palestine.
·
An immediate
relief from the isolation in Gaza, and a pathway forward for greater
integration.
For both:
·
Jerusalem would
no longer be a symbol of division fought over as a shared capital city of the
two competing states in the two state solution, but rather a unifying
bipartisan city.
·
Freedom from fear
of domination by the other community.
·
The current
demographic balance is used to promote bipartisanship at the commonwealth level,
and this benefit is relatively impervious to demographic shifts in the future. The Jewish Law of Return and the rights of
Palestinian refugees would both be respected but with controls.
Achieving the Jerusalem Commonwealth would
need the election of candidates supporting the commonwealth in both the Israeli
Knesset and the Palestinian Legislative Council who could put into effect the
necessary constitutional changes. Both
legislatures would need to enact legal means to join together to form the first
bicameral Commonwealth Parliament and elect the first Executive Council that
would oversee the first elections and transition to the new structure. To achieve this requires either current
political movements to adopt the model as policy, or a new commonwealth
movement to be elected.
[1]
A directorial system of
government is when the executive power is equally divided among a select number
of individuals, ‘a directorate’, rather than a president or prime minister who
appoints the cabinet. Switzerland uses this form of government, where
directorates or executive councils govern all levels of administration, federal,
cantonal and municipal. It is a
system of government that reflects and represents the heterogeneity and
multiethnicity of the Swiss people. Israel's Parliamentary System, under which executive power is vested
directly in the Multi-person Cabinet, as opposed to the President acting on the
advice of the Cabinet in a normal Westminster System, can be seen as
semi-directorial.
Annex 2. Mapping current ministries of the Governments of Israel and Palestine to the model Commonwealth
Executive Council and Territory Governments
Commonwealth Executive Council
|
Current Israeli Ministries
|
Current Palestinian Ministries
|
Executive Council’s Office
|
Prime Minister's Office, Jerusalem and
Heritage
|
Prime Minister, Information, Jerusalem
Affairs
|
Population and Migration
|
Aliyah and Integration
|
|
Defense
|
Defense
|
|
Economy and Finance
|
Economy and Industry, Finance,
|
Finance
|
Energy, Transport and Communications
|
Communications, Energy, Transport and Road
Safety
|
Telecommunications and IT, Transport and
Communications,
|
Foreign Affairs and Trade
|
Foreign Affairs
|
Foreign Affairs and Expatriates
|
Home Affairs, Attorney General
|
Interior, Public Security
|
|
Territory Governments
|
||
Chief Minister’s Office
|
||
Agriculture, Environment and Water
|
Agriculture and Rural Development,
Environmental Protection
|
Agriculture
|
Planning, Housing
|
Construction and Housing
|
Public Works and Housing
|
Health and Sports
|
Health, Sports
|
Health
|
Education and Research, Culture
|
Education, Culture, Science and Technology
|
Education, Higher Education and Scientific
Research, Culture
|
Employment, Transport
|
Labor,
|
Labor, Local Govt.
|
Justice
|
Justice
|
Justice
|
Social Services,
|
Social Equality, Social Affairs and Social
Services
|
Social Development, Women’s Affairs
|
Tourism, Culture and Religious Services
|
Tourism, Culture and Religious Services
|
Tourism and Antiquities
|
Development of the Negev and the Galilee
|
AFTERWORD:
AFTERWORD:
Other federal models can be found at:
The four models at a glance:
Model
|
FM
|
IPF/HLU
|
IPC
|
JC (this
model)
|
Citizenship
|
Israeli only
|
Both
|
Both
|
Commonwealth only
|
one or two
states?
|
one – Israel, but 30 cantons
|
two, defined by people not territory
|
two confederated nation states
|
one, but with many powers devolved to territory governments
|
Head of
State
|
Israeli president
|
Federal president
|
Three presidents: Israel, Palestine, Confederation
|
Presiding member of the Executive Council
|
Head of Govt
|
Israeli PM
|
Federal PM
|
Three PMs: Israel, Palestine, Confederation
|
7-person bipartisan executive council
|
Parliament
|
Knesset with added upper house
|
Federal and two national parliaments
|
Federal and two national parliaments
|
One national parliament with Hebrew and Arabic chambers
|
National
elections
|
Israeli system
|
System not stated but 4 year terms
|
300 districts across confederation, electoral system not specified
|
proportional representation in 22 electoral districts, 4 yr terms
|
Power
sharing
|
Majority rules
|
President / PM must be from opposite ethnic
|
President / PM opposite ethnicity, with 2 yearly rotation
|
Bipartisan commonwealth parliament and executive
|
Veto power
|
none
|
not stated
|
55% of either Israeli or Palestinian MPs
|
51% of either Hebrew or Arabic chamber MPs
|
Sub-national
govt
|
20 Jewish Cantons, 10 Palestinian
|
Israeli (1), Palestinian (3), and six Federal areas
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No – Israel and Palestine are separate nations
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Israel, West Bank, Jerusalem territories +/- Gaza
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Gaza
|
excluded
|
included
|
included
|
inclusion possible
|
Golan
|
included
|
not included (?)
|
included
|
inclusion possible
|
Jerusalem
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Israeli capital
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1 of 6 federal districts
|
not addressed
|
Commonwealth capital, capital of Israel & WB
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WB Settlement
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separate cantons
|
federal districts
|
not addressed
|
Integrated into West Bank with protections
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Overall
summary
|
Israeli system of govt with semi autonomous cantons added
|
Supranational federation over two non-territorial ‘nations’
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Confederation of two separate nations
|
Inherently bipartisan Federal state, with structures similar to Switzerland
and Belgium
|
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