MK Haneen Zoabi
Photo: Hassan Shaalan
Zoabi: 'No military can defeat people who want to live'
Pro-Palestinian festival 'Gaza Won' hosts Arab MKs, celebrates Israeli defeat in Gaza operation; Zoabi: 'Political solution needed based on freedom'.
Some 2,000 people of Arab descent attended a Friday evening festival in northern Israel entitled "Gaza Won". Palestinian flags adorned the meeting area where MK Haneen Zoabi was also in attendance.
Signs at the event bore the messages of those present including, "We will support Gaza's demands" and, "Gaza's victory is our holiday".
Haneen Zoabi at the pro-Palestinian festival. (Photo: Hassan Shaalan)
In the midst of the signs and flags showing solidarity with the Palestinians, Zoabi spoke and said, "The Palestinian opposition and the entire nation in Gaza defeated the military and political objectives that Israel had set for itself."
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"The struggle of our people thwarted all of the goals, and that's the result of this war," said Zoabi. "That's the lesson, and the Israelis have to understand it - there's no military power that can defeat a people who want to live."
The event was organized by the High Follow-Up Committee for Arab Citizens of Israel. Besides Zoabi, additional Arab MKs took part in the event alongside leaders from Israel's two Islamist movements.
Solidarity with Palestinians. (Photo: Hassan Shaalan)
The festival began when those in attendance were asked to observe a moment of silence for the Palestinians killed over the course of Operation Protective Edge. "We want to live and Israel has two million people under siege," said Zoabi.
"They thought that through military force they could break the will (to live) but they didn't. A political solution is needed that will be based on rights and freedom and that will break the siege of the occupiers."
Some 2,000 people attended the festival. (Photo: Hassan Shaalan)
Regarding the criticism Zoabi faces in Israel and the police recommendation that she be tried for incitement, she said, "They are instigating against me because I stand by my rights. If the only way to make them stop the incitement against me is to shut up and surrender, there's no point."
"The problem is the racism and Fascism and not the individual or the nation of opposition. I can lose my character if I accept a Fascist regime," said the MK.
"I reject the equation that says, 'if you give up all your rights and identity, then maybe we'll accept you.' It's Israel that needs to change," she said. "Among my people, more than 2,000 martyrs were killed are half-a-million refugees in Gaza are paying the price as they struggle."
"In the end, the one who needs to rethink (the situation) is the occupier and not the occupied."
