documenting the Palestinian struggle for equal rights

Friday, August 14, 2009

Fayyad: "It's not our business whether Israel is Jewish"

What he said: "Israel's character is Israel's business and nobody else's."

What he should have said: "As a representative of the entire Palestinian population, which includes 1.2 million Palestinians currently denied equal rights under Israeli law, I cannot in good conscience advocate for any peace based solely on the status of the West Bank. Without ensuring that Palestinians, wherever they live, will have equal rights under democratic governance, no peace process will ever be just or secure. Today, Palestinians in Israel suffer from a systematic lack of political, social, and economic rights, as well as shockingly apparent legal and governmental discrimination. I will not consider the struggle for Palestinian rights complete until all groups of Palestinians - those in the West Bank, the Gaza Strip, the refugees, and in Israel - have secured equal rights under the law. I must therefore reiterate that Israel cannot be a state of Jewish exclusivity or privilege under any final status agreement."

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