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TEL AVIV – Researcher and journalist David Bedein came up with an original argument to help Arab-Israeli Knesset members reconside their support of disengagement plan – a letter he sent the parliamentarians warns that the pullout could serve as the legal basis for the future expulsion of Arabs from Israel.
In letter which Bedein dispatched to the Members of the Knesset, he wrote that “the government of Israel has created, in recent months, the legal basis for the implementation of the transfer (of Arabs,) including the banishment of residents from their land, their exile, the demolition of their homes, and the nationalization of their private property.”
Bedein also warned that “the compensation to be offered for the expulsion is meager and inadequate.”
Later in the letter, he noted that “currently, these transfer laws deal with the hundreds of Israeli residents in the Gaza Strip. Despite this, the transfer law precedent and its implementation for political-security objectives may be applied in the future to Arab residents in the territories and in the State of Israel too.”
Knesset member dismisses argument
However, it appears the creative attempt left no impression on the Arab-Knesset members it aimed to convince.
Knesset Member Ahmed Tibi sarcastically told Ynet he was glad to see “the concern and compassion expressed by far right people regarding the future of Arab residents in the country.”
Tibi dismissed the warnings and said the argument was empty of any substance.
“I reject out of hand any attempt to compare the status of Arab citizens of the State of Israel, who are native residents, to lawbreakers and settlers who took over the land of another people through the use of force.”
Tibi added that he has no empathy for the settlers despite the upcoming pullout.
“Returning them from the area of occupation is not a transfer by any means,” he said. “Transfer is the removal of native citizens from their land and country.”
However, Bedein told Ynet his intention was to prevent human rights from being undermined, and added his warning does not stem from a right-wing ideology, but rather, from mere logic.
This piece ran on Y-Net, the Yediot Aharonot internet site, on July 2nd, 2005
