The Arabs / Two Arab MKs expected to say yes to disengagement

A minority position is developing in Arab politics in Israel calling for approval of Prime Minister Ariel Sharon's disengagement plan.

Of the eight Arab MKs, the two members of the United Arab List, Abdulmalik Dehamshe and Talab al-Saneh are expected to vote in favor of the plan on Tuesday. Dehamshe will vote yes at the behest of his political patron, the Southern Islamic Movement, which has criticized the secular Arab movements, Hadash and Balad, for opposing disengagement.

Al-Saneh decided in favor of disengagement, among other reasons, in the context of the recent call of his movement, the Arab Democratic Party, to run in the upcoming elections in a joint bloc of Arab parties and Jewish leftist parties.

"I am surprised at the position of my colleagues," MK Talab al-Saneh (United Arab List) said of those opposed to disengagement. "We all supported Oslo that spoke of Gaza first, but that didn't mention one word about evacuation of settlements. This is an important step."

A senior member of the extra-parliamentary and more radical Northern Islamic Movement movement spoke in favor of unilateral withdrawal from Gaza and strongly criticized the plan's Arab opponents.

Umm al-Fahm Mayor Sheikh Hashem Abdel-Rahman called the secular Arab parties opposing disengagement "Trojan horses" working against the Palestinian interest. But the main pressure on Hadash and Balad is coming from the Labor Party.

Last week Haim Ramon and Amram Mitza initiated a meeting with Hadash chairman MK Mohammed Barakeh and MK Issam Makhoul in an attempt to persuade them to support the plan or at least to abstain. Pressure is expected to build on Balad members as well. However in meetings held yesterday both parties held their ground, with Balad's political bureau deciding officially to vote against disengagement.

"The plan is not an arrangement but the avoidance of an arrangement and negotiation," said a statement released by Balad. "It includes the deployment of Israeli troops around Gaza, that is, occupation from the outside. Sharon is not seeking only to dismantle settlements but to increase and strengthen settlement in the West Bank as part of the same plan."

Hadash called the disengagement plan "Sharon's alibi to continue committing crimes against the Palestinian people and to paralyze the peace process."

Last week three junior members of Hadash's 18-member political bureau came out in favor of disengagement, but most of the members are split between opposition and abstention. The latter position is supported among others by party secretary-general Oudai Basharat, the chairman of the Higher Arab Monitoring Committee Shweiki Hatib, and Nazareth Mayor Ramez Jeraisy.

Last week, and again yesterday, the majority, led by Barakeh, Makhoul and their former faction colleague Tamar Gojansky, won out.

Hadash's faction partner Ta'al, led by MK Ahmed Tibi, also decided to oppose disengagement. Hadash-Ta'al and Balad, though firm adversaries, think alike on this issue. Both are opposed to a referendum. "The residents of Ra'anana do not have the right to decide how the people of Gaza and Nablus should live," said MK Jamal Zahalka of Balad.

A survey conducted by Madad Hashalom last May found 53 percent of the Arab public supported a unilateral withdrawal. However most Arabs respond with a shrug of the shoulder to questions on disengagement. "It doesn't involve Arab citizens," said one man in a spot survey in Jaffa.

Pundits note that the indifference of the Arabs is no surprise at a time when more burning issues for the Arab population do not engender reactions. Politicians say the almost even split between those for and against disengagement has to do with the fact that the Palestinians have not formulated a unified and clear position on the issue. Both those for and against disengagement speak of it in terms of the Palestinian interest.

Most Arab periodicals came out this week in favor of disengagement. "Approval of the plan is a thousand times more preferable than its failure to pass," an opinion piece in the Arab newspaper Al-Sinara stated. "The results, whatever they will be, the goals whatever they are, and the implementation, whatever it is, are all in the Palestinian interest," the Nazareth-based newspaper Kul al-Arab wrote.

"We have decided to prefer the Palestinian interest over any other interest," Sheikh Ibrahim Tzartzur, leader of the Southern Islamic Movement, noted in an interview with Haaretz after a meeting of the movement's spiritual leaders. "When we see the policy of destruction and killing in Gaza, our only concern is for the Palestinian people. We will not be opposed if the occupation moves slightly and gives the Palestinian people room to breathe and to reorganize. The Palestinians want this withdrawal."

However Sheikh Tzartzur shares the concerns of the secular parties. "If Israel intends to withdraw from Gaza to perpetuate the occupation and shut down the peace process, it will mean a bloody catastrophe," he warned. But in a barb directed at Hadash and Balad he also noted, "Will Israel's remaining in Gaza move the peace process ahead? Will it prevent murder? Will it stop the creation of new refugee camps in Gaza? If disengagement is implemented and Sharon does not avoid it, it will be a positive point."