Triangle hypocrisy
One element of the US peace plan has been highly controversial specifically among Arab-Israelis: The possibility of land swaps for the establishment of an eventual Palestinian state that would include Arab towns in the Triangle, such as Umm el-Fahm, Kafr Kara, Arara, Baka al-Gharbiya and more.
In brief, the plan sets specific conditions for the US and Israel to support a Palestinian state, including demilitarization of Gaza and their parts of the West Bank, no longer paying terrorists and recognizing Israel as the Jewish state. If all of those conditions are met, a state would be established in 70% of the West Bank, Gaza and some land currently held by Israel. The much-touted map included in the plan shows that uninhabited land near the Gaza-Egypt border would be part of the theoretical Palestinian state. But the text of the plan allows for a populated land swap of the Triangle.
A senior source in Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s entourage in Washington dismissed that element of the plan outright last week, saying: “I don’t think we’ll reach that point.” Asked whether Arab-Israelis living in the Triangle could retain their Israeli citizenship, the source said the prime minister had not decided on his position yet.
A week later, reports came to light that it was Netanyahu who suggested to the US that Israel swap out the Triangle. Some speculated that the idea was a way to ensure support for the plan from Yisrael Beytenu leader Avigdor Liberman, who was defense minister for most of the time it was being drafted. Since 2004, Liberman has called for the Triangle to be left out of the eventual border of Israel, praising that element of the US plan immediately after it was published.
The Joint List regularly calls Israel an apartheid state, so one may think their representatives would be pleased that some 250,000 Arab-Israelis would be saved from life under such supposed tyranny. It may seem that someone like Joint List MK Sami Abou Shahadeh, who sent a press release on Saturday about “our Palestinian nation” – or the Joint List in general, which sent out a photo that day of “Palestinians holding Israeli citizenship” marching with Palestinian flags – would be pleased that Netanyahu has agreed to a plan for the establishment of a Palestinian state. But, of course, that statement and that photo are from protests in Baka al-Gharbiya against the plan, calling it racist, apartheid, etc.
“Netanyahu will move, Trump will move, and we will stay here,” said Joint List MK Ahmad Tibi, a resident of Taiba in the Triangle.
Tibi and other critics mischaracterized the plan as population transfer, including on Joint List-branded protest signs. However, the border will be redrawn without moving anyone, if the US plan is followed.
That Tibi and his fellow Joint List MKs would express such horror at being citizens of “Palestine,” despite identifying as Palestinians, gives up their game. Despite its MKs representing the Palestinian cause at every opportunity – with one convicted of aiding Palestinian terrorists a few years ago – they do not actually want to live in a Palestinian state.
Even they know that such a state is doomed to fail. As Special Advisor to the US President Jared Kushner has been saying in interviews, the Palestinian leadership has been in place for decades, but instead of putting in the work to build up institutions to prepare for statehood, they’ve enriched themselves to the detriment of their own, suffering people. Palestinians should seize the US plan as an opportunity to improve their lives.
Arab-Israelis do not want to become citizens of a future Palestinian state, because they too are concerned about the limited rights they will be afforded there, the quality of the healthcare, the job opportunities and more. For all the criticism of Israel, Arab-Israelis enjoy living in the democratic Jewish state and do not want to give it up – even if it means showing the world that their so-called support for Palestinian independence is just verbal.
As for the Joint List, if they’re so pleased to live in the Jewish state, they should stop sending mixed messages like waving Palestinian flags to say they want to remain Israeli – or putting candidates like Heba Yazbak, who writes social media posts glorifying terrorists, on their list. Instead, how about promoting peaceful coexistence and integration for the betterment of their constituents? That would be quite the idea.