ISRAEL/JERUSALEM: ISRAELI ARAB LAWMAKER AZMI BISHARA DENOUNCES ISRAELI SUGGESTION TO CONSIDER HANDING OVER ISRAELI ARAB AREAS IN EXCHANGE FOR WEST BANK SETTLEMENTS

Record ID: 400560

  • Title: ISRAEL/JERUSALEM: ISRAELI ARAB LAWMAKER AZMI BISHARA DENOUNCES ISRAELI SUGGESTION TO CONSIDER HANDING OVER ISRAELI ARAB AREAS IN EXCHANGE FOR WEST BANK SETTLEMENTS
  • Date: 4th February 2004
  • Summary: (U3) JERUSALEM (FEBRUARY 4, 2004) (REUTERS) 1. ISRAELI ARAB LAWMAKER, AZMI BISHARA, STANDING OUTSIDE ISRAELI PARLIAMENT (KNESSET) 0.08 2. (SOUNDBITE) (English) ISRAELI ARAB LAWMAKER, AZMI BISHARA, SAYING: "Until now I don't think it's seriously in the question on implementation but what is serious about it is that he (Ariel Sharon) continues to dra
  • Embargoed: 19th February 2004 12:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: UM EL-FAHEM, ISRAEL/ JERUSALEM
  • City:
  • Country: Israel
  • Reuters ID: LVA7IOGMV85BEVTFTH57QF7PDPGG
  • Story Text: Israel could consider handing over Israeli Arab
    areas in exchange for West Bank settlements.


    A prominent Israeli Arab lawmaker denounced on
    Wednesday (February 4) Israel's suggestion to consider
    handing over Israeli Arab areas in exchange for Jewish
    settlements in the West Bank.

    A senior Israeli official said on Tuesday (February 3)
    Israel might one day be willing to hand over some Israeli
    Arab areas to Palestinian rule in exchange for Jewish
    settlements in the West Bank.

    But a prominent Israeli Arab parliamentarian denounced
    the idea because he said it shows that Israel regards its
    Arab citizens as a demographic problem.

    "What is serious about it is that he (Ariel Sharon)
    continues to draw a question mark about the status of the
    Arabs in this country. No other country in the world would
    draw a question mark continuously about the citizenship of
    its citizens," said Israeli Arab lawmaker Azmi Bishara on
    Wednesday (February 4) in Jerusalem.

    "This means actually, built-in discrimination. They
    can't be equal citizens if you look at them all the time as
    if they are a demographic problem or as some would
    exaggerate and say they are a demographic bomb."
    The suggestion was floated the day after Prime Minister
    Ariel Sharon stunned friends and foes by saying the Jewish
    state could relinquish Jewish settlements in the Gaza Strip.

    A spokesman for Sharon said that if there was any shift
    in the border it would be done only by mutual consent and
    not through unilateral separation steps that Israel is
    planning if talks with the Palestinians fail.

    Arabs make up almost 20 percent of Israel's population,
    but friction has been rife with Jews during more than three
    years of conflict with the Palestinians.

    There is growing concern among Jews that the balance is
    shifting in favour of Arabs because of a much higher birth
    rate.

    Although Israeli Arabs complain of discrimination in
    Israel, they are much better off financially there than
    they might be in the West Bank, where the per capita GDP is
    by some estimates less than one twentieth of that for
    Israel.

    "We are against Sharon's plan, we are equal residents
    we want to stay here, we want our (Israeli) identification
    cards. We are residents of the state of Israel, we built
    this country. We worked in this country, worked when we
    were children in this country, we built the country on our
    backs. We want to stay equal to the Jewish residents," said
    Jabali Khaled Yousef, an Israeli Arab resident of Um
    El-Fahem.

    Right-wingers in Sharon's Likud party are still reeling
    from Monday's announcement on giving up Gaza settlements,
    let alone ceding land that was inside Israel before it
    occupied the West Bank and Gaza in the 1967 war.

    But a deal with Israel that would give the Palestinians
    a state and possibly allow any border changes still looks a
    distant prospect. A U.S.-backed "road map" for peace has
    been stalled by violence, prompting Sharon to plan
    unilateral moves.


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