- An Israeli cabinet minister has called for the expulsion
of some 1.3 million Palestinian citizens of Israel who constitute nearly
one fifth of the state?s population.
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- Transportation Minister Avigdor Lieberman said during
an interview with the Israeli army radio (Gali Tzahal) on Sunday that the
"Arabs of Israel" should be expelled in case a Palestinian state
was established and Jewish settlements in the occupied West Bank and Gaza
Strip were dismantled.
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- Lieberman, a former Moldovan immigrant who arrived in
Israel in 1978, suggested that the existence of a large non-Jewish minority
in Israel threatened the "Jewish identity" and "ethnic purity"
of Israel.
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- But his explicitly racist remarks raised no ire in the
Israeli political establishment.
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- Israeli officials, from Israeli Prime Minister Ariel
Sharon downward, refused to condemn the remarks, suggesting a sympathy
with Lieberman?s ideas.
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- 'Free man'
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- Amira Dotan, a spokeswoman for the Israeli foreign ministry,
told Aljazeera that ethnic cleansing was not "the policy of the government".
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- "I do not know what made him say these things. He
is a free man; he has the right to express his views."
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- When reminded that it was not the first time Lieberman
made such racist statements, Dotan said even government ministers had the
right to voice nonconformist views.
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- Asked why such provocative statements go unchallenged
in a country that claims to be the only democracy in the Middle East, Dotan
evaded the subject, arguing that Sharon had promised to allocate additional
funds for Israel's Arab sector.
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- 'Fascism'
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- Lieberman's remarks drew angry reactions from some of
the leaders of Israel's Arab community. Arab Knesset member Ahmad Tibi
called Lieberman a "full fledged fascist".
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- "He is not the only fascist. The entire political
atmosphere in Israel provides a most suitable environment for the growth
and prosperity of fascism. This is why sickening statements as such go
unchallenged."
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- Tibi blamed the international community, especially the
United States and Europe, for their "obscene double-standards toward
Israeli fascism".
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- "A few years ago, Europe moved swiftly to silence
and isolate [Austrian nationalist leader Jorg] Haidar for his alleged anti-Jewish
remarks.
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- "Here in Israel we have government ministers who
routinely make brazenly racist and fascist remarks about the Palestinians
... and the EU is saying nothing and doing nothing," he said.
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- Growing trend
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- On why Israeli civil society does not condemn such anti-democratic
attitudes, Tibi said that a sizeable segment of the Israeli Jewish society
had already drifted to jingoistic and religious fascism.
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- "Many Israeli Jews are already inured to Lieberman's
way of thinking. I expect that these fascist trends will continue to grow."
Tibi's views are corroborated by a number of peace-oriented Israelis.
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- Yossi Sarid, a leader of the centre-Left Meretz Party,
accused Lieberman of "emulating fascists in other lands and other
times".
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- "His (Lieberman's) remarks are reminiscent of other
people and other lands which ultimately led to the annihilation of millions
of Jews," said Sarid.
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- "It is this fascist mentality that makes the Israeli
government destroy our homes, confiscate our land and spray our fields
with pesticides ? and then they unashamedly tell the world that they are
the only democracy in the Middle East," said Talab al-Sanai.
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- He described Lieberman's remarks as "the epitome
[of] the iceberg of fascism in this country".
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- "Lieberman came from Moldova in 1978 and he is telling
the Palestinians who have been living here from antiquity that they don't
have the right to be here. Can you think of a more brazen obscenity?"
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- Notorious
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- Lieberman's racism has been well known for many years.
A few years ago, he called for the bombing of the Aswan Dam in Egypt, the
Presidential palace in Damascus and Iran?s nuclear facilities.
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- He also called for executing Arab Knesset members Tibi
and Muhammad Baraka by a firing squad for supporting Palestinian rights
and calling for ending the Israeli occupation.
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- In 2002, he urged the Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon
to carry out "wholesale killings" of Palestinian civilians in
order to force them to flee to Jordan and other neighbouring Arab countries.
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- "At 8:00 am, we'll bomb the commercial centers;
at noon, we'll bomb their gas stations and at two o'clock we'll bomb the
banks ? Then we keep the border crossing open," Lieberman was quoted
as saying during a cabinet session.
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- Upset by his remarks, Israeli opposition leader and then
Foreign Minister Shimon Peres reportedly looked at Lieberman, telling him
? "and at 6:00 pm, you'll receive an invitation to the international
Tribunal in the Hague".
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- Lieberman now lives at the settlement of Nikodem in the
northern West Bank, built on a piece of land, which he and other immigrants
from the former Soviet Union had seized from Palestinian villagers.
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- http://www.aljazeera.com/cgi-bin/news_service/middle_east_full_story.asp?service_id=1862
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