Without weighing in on the loyalty oath myself, I want to point out an observation this Washington Times staff-ed makes on the issue:
The Palestinians would rather avoid the subject; a spokesman claimed "the issue of the Jewishness of the state has nothing to do with the matter."
National identity, however, has everything to do with the matter on the Palestinian side. The preamble to the Palestinian Basic Law notes "the continuous attachment of the Arab Palestinian people to the land of their fathers and forefathers" and claims, "the organic relationship between the Palestinian people, their history and their land has confirmed itself in their unceasing effort to prompt the world to recognize the rights of the Arab Palestinian people and their national entity." Article 1 asserts, "Palestine is part of the larger Arab world, and the Palestinian people are part of the Arab nation." Article 4 proclaims, "Islam is the official religion in Palestine" and "the principles of Islamic Sharia shall be the main source of legislation." Article 116 states, "laws shall be promulgated in the name of the Palestinian Arab people." . . .
Hamas decried the oath in similar terms, overlooking the declaration in its charter that "the Islamic Resistance Movement is a distinct Palestinian Movement which owes its loyalty to Allah, derives from Islam its way of life and strives to raise the banner of Allah over every inch of Palestine." The Hamas slogan is "Allah is its goal, the Prophet its model, the Koran its Constitution, Jihad its path and death for the case of Allah its most sublime belief." That's hardly a declaration of inclusiveness. If the peace process fails to yield results, it will be because of Islamist sentiments like these – not because of an Israeli citizenship oath that acknowledges the obvious.
