Constitution, Basic Laws, Bill of Rights

This book presents the proceedings of the third conference of IDI's Public Council, which addressed three main topics. The first was the fundamental need for a constitution, including the appropriate scope of the future constitution. This led to consideration of the place of social rights in a constitution and the possibility of defining them as constitutional rights. The second issue was whether the constitution needs to be based on Israel's existing Basic Laws, fleshing them out so as to form a complete constitution, or whether there should be a de novo process to create a totally new document. (Most of the speakers at the conference believed that the constitution should be based on the existing Basic Laws, with modifications, enhancements, and supplements.) The third issue was the question of the place of a Bill of Rights in Israel's future constitution, including what it should include and what status it should be accorded.