Last update - 00:00 23/12/2007
Think tank: Israeli Arabs should take part in negotiations with PA
By Yoav Stern, haaretz Correspondent
A position paper published Sunday by the Reut Institute states that Israel must incorporate Arab citizens in its negotiations with the Palestinian Authority and with the Palestinian Liberation Organization, and be prepared for shifting political views within the Arab public.
The position paper submitted by the Reut Institute, an Israeli think tank which advises different government offices, also warns that a change in Arab public opinion could limit the PA representatives in their negotiations with Israel.
The Reut report further recommends bringing up in negotiations a discussion on Israeli Arabs' relationship to the future Palestinian state.
The report states that "The extent of affinity and connection that Israel would permit its Arab citizens to have with the Palestinian state could have political bearing on the issue of double passports, the right to vote and run for office in the Palestinian parliament, as well as family reunification issues, etc."
The paper also calls for Israel to ensure equal rights to all its citizens, on the basis of the Or commission report on the Israeli Arab riots of October 2000, in which 14 rioters were killed by police. According to the report, ensuring equality would "defuse at least some of the reasons of unrest" among the Arab public.
Last week, Adalah, the Legal Center for Arab Minority Rights in Israel, voiced its support of a transnational rule over the whole of "historic Palestine," stretching from the Jordan River to the Mediterranean. The center's legal experts are to draft a new constitution in the next few months, which would commit, among other things, to the return of Palestinian refugees.
This marks a new political outlook of the center, which until recently advocated a two-state solution. Adalah denies that last week's statement deviates from its previous position, and maintains that its priority is to ensure human rights.