Jerusalem, February 14: The Israeli deputy foreign minister has suggested that all Arab Israelis should eventually be transferred to a future Palestinian state.
In an interview published in the Arabic-language newspaper Asharq Al-Awsat on Saturday, Israeli Deputy Foreign Minister Danny Ayalon said that Arab Israelis are proud of being Palestinians and thus have nothing to lose “if they decide to go and live within a Palestinian state.”
The statement has angered Arab Israeli MPs, who said in very stern remarks that no one can dictate to Arab citizens to tell them where to live.
“Ayalon does not understand anything about human rights and democracy,” MP Ahmad Tibi told reporters.
Arab Israelis are “not pawns” to be moved around at will, said another MP.
In defense of his statement, Ayalon said that he is not trying to get rid of the Palestinians but he does believe they could use their experiences to make contributions for the future Palestinian state’s social and economic development.
Israel’s minister for minorities, Avishai Braverman, also joined in the criticism of Ayalon, saying his words “do not reflect in any way the position of the government.”
Israel’s Arab community numbers 1.3 million and accounts for 20 percent of the population. It includes the descendants of the 160,000 Palestinians who remained in Israel after the 1948 Middle East war.
——-Agencies