Monday, July 26, 2010

Israel's harassment of citizens could ignite uprising, warns Arab politician


• State playing with fire, says member of Knesset
• Zoabi cites anti-democracy bills as 'undermining'

David Hearst
guardian.co.uk, Sunday 25 July 2010

"Israel could ignite a third intifada if it continues to push its 1.2 million Arab citizens into a corner, claims Haneen Zoabi, the Arab member of the Knesset vilified for joining the Gaza aid flotilla.

Zoabi, who was branded a traitor for her participation in the Gaza convoy, warned that Israel was playing with fire. "We accepted a democratic, liberal state, we voted for the Knesset. But we are not just an internal issue – we are the litmus test of the whole problem. If Israel does not recognise this, conditions will deteriorate towards a third intifada."

But she rejected any suggestion that Israel's Arab citizens supported violence.....

Zoabi cites polls that say 89% would vote for a state "for all", the formula used by Balad for a bi-national secular state. Her party still officially favours a two-state plan. But Zoabi has expressed doubt that the Palestinian president, Mahmoud Abbas, could negotiate any state from Israel "bigger than a local authority". She said: "We did not immigrate to Israel. Israel immigrated to us. We are the indigenous people of a land from which we are being gradually expelled."....."

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