Wednesday, August 05, 2009

Tibi's "Settlers"

INN reports:

Knesset Member Ahmad Tibi [spoke] at the Fatah convention in Bethlehem Tuesday.

Speaking of Arabs like himself who have Israeli citizenship, Tibi said: “We are an inseparable part of the Palestinian people, we are the original residents of the place and we will never leave it. We are the owners of these lands and we are not guests… Let he who arrived last leave first.”

Israel, he said must not only freeze the settlements in Judea and Samaria but dismantle them. There will be no peace “as long as there are settlers,” he said. “The land must be clean of settlers,” he then proclaimed, adding: “Get out of the Palestinian lands, get out of our souls.”


A reaction:

Minister Michael Eitan (Likud) responded to a speech made by MK Ahmad Tibi at a Fatah convention Tuesday. Tibi called on settlers to leave Palestinian lands.

"Those who want to remove Jews from their homes because of a national objection to their being located near Arabs provide an opening for similar statements to be made by Jews about Arabs. This speech is an obstacle to peace and a dangerous radicalization unhelpful to the bridging of gaps between the people," Eitan said.


But I just wanted to make sure you truly understand that Tibi means all Israelis all over Israel.

As PMW detailed:

The following is an excerpt from the speech by the high school graduates:

Sign on stage: "Tribute to high school graduates under the auspices of Mahmoud Abbas, Fatah."
Male graduate: "In the name of the Shahids (Martyrs), in the name of the prisoners, in the name of the stone and the rifle."
Female graduate: "In the name of Fatah, the school that taught us the meaning of nationalism."
Male graduate: "in the name of Palestine: Haifa, Acre, Jaffa, and our Arab Jerusalem."
Female graduate: "In the name of Palestine: Gaza, the West Bank and the flag of national unity."
...
Male graduate: "Fatah is [still] with the rifle. And our rifles are not rusty even if they have fired thousands of bullets."
[Al-Filistiniya TV (Fatah), July 28, 2009]

1 comment:

Suzanne Pomeranz said...

It seems to me that if Tibi wants the "last to leave first", he's the one who should be packing his bags...