Saturday, February 7, 2009

Transfer of Palestinians in Israel a Possibility

The Wall Street Journal is reporting troubling news. It looks like Avigdor Lieberman and his Yisrael Beiteinu party are gaining in polls, currently running third to Likud and Kadima. The Journal notes that this puts Yisrael Beiteinu in the position of being "kingmaker of Israeli politics when it comes time to negotiate a coalition government after the vote."

This is very troubling, considering a couple of Yisrael Beiteinu's stated policies. Again, according to the WSJ, "a central tenet in Mr. Lieberman's campaign is a proposal to redraw Israel's borders to transfer most of the country's 1.2 million Arab citizens to Palestinian control, in exchange for land in the West Bank occupied by Jewish settlers. He also wants to make it mandatory for Israeli citizens to take an oath of loyalty in order to get citizenship, the right to vote, and social services."

The article also notes that such positions are not new. In the '80s, Meir Kahane was elected to the Knesset on a similar platform. The difference is that Israeli society has moved far to the right since then, so much so that Tzipi Livni, leader of Kadima, "said in December that if elected she would tell Israel's Arab citizens "your national aspirations lie elsewhere," comments widely interpreted as an endorsement of Mr. Lieberman's plan to transfer Israel's Arabs to Palestinian control."

In other words, transfer of the Palestinians in Israel is going to be a real possibility following the upcoming elections February 10.

Divestment from this racist state is needed now more than ever.

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