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PROCLAMATION OF THE 34th ZIONIST CONGRESS
We, who are assembled at the 34th Zionist Congress, held in Jerusalem during the fifty-fourth year since the establishment of the State of Israel and one hundred and five years since the convening of the First Zionist Congress where the right of the Jewish People to national revival in Eretz Israel was declared, hereby do call upon the legislators of the Knesset of Israel to secure in Basic Law the fundamental values of the State of Israel that determine it to be the State of the Jewish People and a Jewish and democratic state;
Whereas the State of Israel was established by the Zionist Movement to be the National Home of the Jewish People and to achieve our two thousand year long aspiration to bring about the Ingathering of the Exiles, national independence, spiritual renaissance and the creation of a society in accordance with the vision of the Prophets of Israel;
Whereas there are those who refute the right of the Jewish People to self-determination in Eretz Israel;
And whereas the character of the State of Israel is determined and expressed, among others, through the Basic Laws that serve as the foundation for the future Constitution of Israel;
Therefore,
We who have assembled at the 34th Zionist Congress, convened in Jerusalem in the month of Tamuz in the year 5762, do proclaim that the time has come to provide for the legal status of the Jewish, Zionist and democratic values of the State of Israel in keeping with Israel's Declaration of Independence and the ethos of the State since its inception, and to declare the following principles as the basis for determining the uniqueness, character and raison d'etre of the existence of the State of Israel as a Jewish and democratic state.
The State of Israel is the State of the Jewish People and its capital is Jerusalem. It is the fulfillment of the aspirations of the Zionist Movement and the aspiration of generations for the independence and sovereignty of the Jewish People in the spirit of the principles of the Declaration of Independence.
The State of Israel will be open to the aliyah of Jews and will aspire to bring the Jewish People home.
The State of Israel is a democracy that respects basic human rights and the heritage of the minorities living in its boundaries, through the safeguarding of equal rights for all of its citizens, regardless of religion, race, sex or nationality. The values of freedom, freedom of religion and conscience, justice and peace are the Jewish heritage of Israel.
The State of Israel safeguards the sites that are holy to all religions from any desecration or other offense that would interfere with freedom of access to members of all religions to their holy places or their sentiments to those sites.
Hatikvah is the national anthem of the State. The State flag and the State emblem are those determined by the Law of the Flag and Emblem.
The State of Israel is a state whose history is intertwined with the history of the Jewish people. The Shabbat is the day of rest of the State, and the national festivals are its holidays and Hebrew is its language.
The State of Israel perceives the encouragement of Jewish settlement in Israel to a basic value of Zionism and a responsibility of the State and its authorities.
The State of Israel, through the fulfillment of its mission, seeks the involvement of the Jewish People in the building of the Land and in the Ingathering of the Exiles in accordance with the statutes of the State.
The State of Israel, as the State of the Jewish People, will act to guarantee the future existence of the Jewish People, will promote ties between Israel and the Diaspora, and will come to the aid of Jews throughout the world in time of need.
The partnership between the State of Israel and the Jewish People shall find expression through the National Institutions as determined by Law.
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