After many senior state officials rejected his plan, Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman stated “Suddenly the residents of Wadi Ara (Nachal I’ron) have become lovers of Tzion”.
Lieberman’s formula for a peace agreement with the PA (Palestinian Authority) includes a land/population swap, which entails shifting the border of the area known as “The Triangle,” a predominately Israeli Arab area. His plan has been rejected by officials like Finance Minister Yair Lapid, Arab lawmakers, and President Shimon Peres. They all feel that Israel cannot act unilaterally and place citizens under a foreign sovereignty.
Lieberman views the situation an ideal opportunity to sign a deal and address demographic concerns regarding the growing Israeli Arab community.
Perturbed by the response, Lieberman reminds his colleagues that the Israeli Arabs regularly “wave black flags instead of Israeli flags but now they have suddenly become staunch citizens”. He reminds them of the many Israeli Arab terrorists serving prison terms for their anti-Israeli acts of terrorism as well.
(YWN – Israel Desk, Jerusalem)
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One Response
His plans fails for two reasons:
1) There majority of Muslim Palestinians do not favor partition of Eretz Yisrael. They want a one-state solution based on a return to the status quo ante that prevailed prior to World War I (i.e. Muslim rule, with Jews being ruled and not ruling). Some hareidim could live with that, but no zionists could. No Israeli peace plan that ignores this has a chance of success.
2) Secular and Christian Arabs, a significant minority of Palestinians, prefer Israeli rule to living in an Islamic state. Many of those Israeli Arabs who want to live in an Islamic Arab state have long since moved to one. Those that remain in Israel are self-selected based on finding zionists less threatening than Islamic fanatics.