The Ministerial Committee for Legislation of the Israeli government is expected to ratify on Sunday a controversial draft bill which defines Israel as a “Jewish state”, Haaretz reported yesterday.

According to the paper, 13 members of the Israeli Knesset signed amendments to the bill submitted by the ruling Likud party which states that “Israel is the national home of the Jewish people and the right of self-determination in the State of Israel is limited to them”.

The bill also states that Hebrew is the official language and changes the status of the Arabic language from an official language into “a language of special importance in the state”.

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The law also contains an article that gives Israel the right to allow a group of people of the same religion or race to establish a “special community”.

The new version of the bill comes after the Israeli government twice failed to pass the bill in the Knesset.

The Israeli basic law defines it as a “Jewish and democratic state”.

The bill, which states that the national rights are granted only to the Jewish people and guarantees the right to immigrate only to them will deprive the Palestinian refugees of the right to return.