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+ American Red Cross
leading Israeli civil
rights activist was in
Washington recently,
making his case for major
reforms in the Israeli
judicial system.
Moshe Negbi, a legal
scholar and journalist, is a
member of the Board of Di-
rectors of the Association for
Civil Rights in Israel
(ACRI), the largest civil
rights group in Israel.
During his Washington
visit, Negbi argued that
Israel's civil rights problems
have deep roots.
"The problems in Israeli
civil rights and democracy
were not created with the in-
tifada," he said in an inter-
view. "The major problem is
the lack of a written con-
stitution. The result is that
the majority can do anything
it wants; the Knesset can
enact any law it likes, even a
law which infringes on the
basic rights of minorities."
The Israeli Declaration of
Independence, signed on
May 15, 1948, promised a
constitution by October 1 of
the same year. Forty two
years later, the nation's lack
of a written constitution has
combined with the occupa-
tion of the territories won
during the 1967 war to pro-
duce a human- rights powder
keg, Negbi argued.
Within Israel proper, ac-
cording to Negbi, this lack of
formal constitutional struc-
ture allows an Orthodox re-
ligious minority to impose
their norms on non-religious
Israelis.
In the occupied territories,
the lack of a constitution
produces what he sees as
flagrant abuses of power,
with little recourse available
for the victims.
"We have there the
military law of occupation,
which gives the army almost
absolute power," he said. "It
gives the courts a very small
space to maneuver."
Israeli politicians, he said,
take a narrow view of civil
liberties that compounds the
problem. "Israeli leaders
tend to take a very simplistic
view of the rule of law," he
said. "They believe that if a
law or a decision has gained
the support of the majority,
it is therefore a democratic
law. And they then believe
that they have a moral duty
to implement it, no matter
what the circumstances."
Moshe Negbi:
Vacuum worries him.
Human rights controver-
sies are regarded purely as
problems in public relations,
he said, not symptoms of a
legal system that lacks the
essential skeleton of a for-
mal constitution that is in-
sulated from changing polit-
ical winds.
Because of this legal vacu-
um, Negbi said, he and his
colleagues in the civil rights
community must content
themselves with small vic-
tories. One example in-
volved a battle last year
against army demolitions of
the homes of suspected Pa-
lestinian insurgents.
"These laws permitting
demolishing a person's
house on the mere suspicion
that he has committed ter-
rorist actions date back to
the British mandate," he
said. "Now this is an un-
democratic law; if there was
a constitution, the Supreme
Court could strike it down. It
cannot, and we do not ask it
to strike it down, because we
know there is no chance."
Instead, the pragmatic
civil rights group convinced
the court to allow a minimal
opportunity for the accused
to defend themselves.
"This is far from ideal,
from a democratic point of
view," he said. "But it's
better than what was hap-
pening. The court accepted
this argument; in July, they
forbade the army to
demolish houses before let-
ting the person appeal the
demolition order."
It was a small but impor-
tant victory, Negbi argued.
"If you look at the whole
picture, this may not look
like much. But from the
point of view of the in-
dividuals involved, it may
mean the difference between
having their homes and be-
ing homeless."
The group has also fought
a grueling battle against
administrative detention,
the process of holding
thousands of suspects —
primarily Palestinians
suspected of participating in
the intifada — without
judicial hearings.
So strong is ACRI's aver-
sion to the practice that the
group once came to the
defense of one of its most
bitter opponents, Rabbi Meir
Kahane.
"We defended him before
he was elected to the
Knesset, because we are in
principle opposed to ad-
ministrative detention,"
Negbi said. "We think it's
wrong to do it —even to
Kahane."
Another important corn-
ponent of the group's work is
education.
"We feel that the only way
to achieve a constitution in
Israel is to educate the peo-
ple that it's important; the
only thing that will force the
politicians to enact a con-
stitution is their assessment
that if they don't, they will
be punished by the elec-
torate. So we go to schools,
we prepare curricula about
human rights and democ-
racy, we send lecturers to
the schools."
But this educational pro-
gram, he warned, could be
jeopardized by the expected
formation of a narrow Likud
government.
"We have done all this
with the consent and coop-
eration of the ministry of
education. I don't know if
this will go on after the next
government is established. I
am very worried."
American Jews, he said,
should not refrain from
challenging the human
rights practices of the Israeli
government.
"Americans in general,
and American Jews in par-
ticular, because of their tra-
dition of human rights, must
make a major contribution
to the challenge of strength-
ening Israeli democracy,"
Negbi said. "American
Jewry has much influence
on the Israeli leadership; be-
cause of this, you have a
responsibility to help us
work for human rights and
democracy in a very difficult
situation." ❑