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Abstract

This article argues that through the institution of the Nation-State law by Israel's parliament, the Knesset, and Israel's Supreme Court subsequently finding the law to be constitutional, Israel has violated the United Nation's ("U.N.") Convention on the Rights of the Child ("Convention"). Specifically, the Nation­ State law violates seven articles of the Convention through two declarations: Is­ raeli settlements shall now be recognized as a national value, and the right of self-determination will be unique to the Jewish people, to the exclusion of Pales­ tinian people. The articles within the Convention that are most blatantly violated are Articles 8, 27, and 28 which provide for the right have an adequate standard of living for proper mental and physical development, to receive an education, and to preserve one's identity. Israeli settlements subject Palestinian children to housing insecurity and higher rates of violence against both their family as well as the children themselves, which interferes with their right to an adequate stan­ dard of living. The consequence of Israeli settlements also causes children to have a longer and more difficult journey getting to school, which interferes with their right to an education. Self-determination is defined as a group of people having the ability to form their own state and choose their own government. The existence of a Palestinian state is the source of Palestinian children's national identities. Thus, self-determination being declared as unique to the Jewish people deprives Palestinian children of their right to preserve their identity and makes them foreigners in their homeland. However, these violations may be remedied through actions within the U.N. which could trigger the Knesset to strike the offending portions of the Nation-State law.

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