Since it was established, the State of Israel has functioned as the state of only the Jews living in it. In fact, it has also functioned as the state of the Jews who don’t even live in it. The State of Israel can be the state of a student from Chicago who cannot say a single sentence in Hebrew, who has never paid taxes to the Israeli government, who has never stepped foot on Israeli soil. If that student wishes to do so, the State of Israel will become his state in an instant and offer him generous absorption grants and a first-class citizenship, as long as he was born to a Jewish mother.
But the State of Israel has never wanted to be my state. It was not founded for me and for my family, its Arab citizens who only bear its passport. My children and I are among more than 1.5 million Palestinians who are 20 percent of the population of Israel and who have lived within Israel’s “Green Line” border since 1948, when the State of Israel was established.

Source: www.foreignpolicy.com

"Since it was established, the State of Israel has functioned as the state of only the Jews living in it. In fact, it has also functioned as the state of the Jews who don’t even live in it. The State of Israel can be the state of a student from Chicago who cannot say a single sentence in Hebrew, who has never paid taxes to the Israeli government, who has never stepped foot on Israeli soil. If that student wishes to do so, the State of Israel will become his state in an instant and offer him generous absorption grants and a first-class citizenship, as long as he was born to a Jewish mother.

But the State of Israel has never wanted to be my state. It was not founded for me and for my family, its Arab citizens who only bear its passport. My children and I are among more than 1.5 million Palestinians who are 20 percent of the population of Israel and who have lived within Israel’s ‘Green Line’ border since 1948, when the State of Israel was established."

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