If it were left to Israeli Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman, most Arabs of Israel living in the Galilee would be expelled from their homes, town and cities, and part of their territories would be added to the projected Palestinian state in exchange for parts of the West Bank that Israel covets.
Implementing such thinking would be nothing short of ethnic cleansing; it all would happen for Israel, as clearly expressed by Lieberman, to become as “Jewish” as possible, with no room for minorities, be they ethnic or religious.
One hopes that Israel will not be allowed to get away with such diabolic schemes, and that Lieberman and his ilk will be stopped from making provocative statements such as this.
The citizenship of the Arabs of Israel cannot be taken away arbitrarily.
Even under Israeli law, no one, including Arabs, can have his or her citizenship rescinded in the manner proposed by the Israeli foreign minister.
Declarations such as the extremist Israeli foreign minister’s are meant to complicate even more an already thorny issue.
The intention is to make the peace talks fail and any advancement on the path to Palestinian statehood impossible.
The timid signs that US Secretary of State John Kerry might be making some progress in his talks with Israelis and Palestinians must sting Lieberman and push him to put more impossible conditions to any peace deal his country might reach with the Palestinians.
The Israeli foreign minister, unfortunately, does not talk only for himself.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu must be in cahoots with Lieberman’s provocations, to avoid being cornered by Kerry.
Washington needs to take note of this latest Israeli racist declarations and, if indeed impartial, ban such utterings.
