Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman still maintains that in an agreement with the PA (Palestinian Authority), Nachal I’ron, which is more commonly known as the Arab Triangle, will be part of Palestine and not Israel. Lieberman favors a land transfer deal which includes turning over the Israeli Arab areas to the PA in exchange for additional areas of Yehuda and Shomron and their Jewish population.

“I can promise that Um al-Fahm will be part of the Palestinian state and not part of Israel,” Lieberman wrote on his Facebook page. The senior minister made his comments after hundreds of Um el-Fahm residents protested after a graffiti attack was reported in a municipality mosque. He added that their continued actions will assure that in any future diplomatic agreements “they will be where they belong”.

Lieberman accused local Arab officials of taking cynical advantage of the graffiti attack to incite residents against Israel, stating in their eyes the graffiti “was a golden opportunity” and they used it to the maximum.

“Their conduct only proves yet again that they long ago became a fifth column with the sole purpose of destroying the state in which they live…” he added.

(YWN – Israel Desk, Jerusalem)