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MK Zoabi. 'We are the indigenous people'
Photo: Hagai Aharon
Marmara ship. 'I did not break any laws'
Photo: Dudi Cohen

MK Zoabi: Israel could ignite 3rd intifada

Arab Knesset member who participated in Gaza-bound flotilla tells British newspaper she rejects path of violence but warns conditions may deteriorate should Israel fail to recognize problem of Arab-Israeli community. 'Israel wants us to break the law and we won't,' she says

After having her privileges revoked by the Knesset, MK Hanin Zoabi (Balad) warns of a third intifada in an interview with Britain's Guardian newspaper.

 

Zoabi, who took part in the Gaza-bound Turkish flotilla said, "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 recognize this, conditions will deteriorate towards a third intifada."  

 

Nevertheless, she rejected any suggestion that Arab-Israelis support violence. "We don't accept that. I don't even like the word violent. Israel wants us to break the law and we won't. I did not break any laws by being on the Mavi Marmara," she said.

 

Two weeks ago the MK was stripped of three parliamentary privileges in a 34:16 Knesset vote. The legislative body decided to deny her of her diplomatic passport, her privileges in exiting the country and withheld any state funding of legal expenses. The act is primarily a symbolic one as the privileges have little practical significance.

 

In the interview, MK Zoabi addressed the case of an Arab man who was convicted of rape by deception after presenting himself as a Jew to a woman who later had sexual relations with him and noted the case was an example of "collective psychosis". "Usually a regime wants to free its people from fear and hatred. This one trades on fear and paranoia," she said.

 

'Carrot and stick approach failed'

According to the Guardian report, Zoabi stressed that under this pressure the Arab-Israeli community was changing from one that saw itself as fighting for its civil rights to one that was part and parcel of the Palestinian struggle. "It took us 40 years for us to admit that we were even Palestinians. Another 15 years passed before we realized that the peace process started under Oslo had been a disaster. "

 

According to Zoabi, "The carrot-and-stick approach failed, and now we see Israel is prepared to throw away its liberal side to control us. We were passive once and now we are becoming active about our national identity."

 

The MK also questioned Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas' ability to negotiate any state from Israel "bigger than a local authority". "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," she said. 

 

 


פרסום ראשון: 07.26.10, 09:23
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