Residents of Umm al-Fahm affirm Arab-Israeli identity
Residents of Umm al-Fahm say that, regardless of their affiliation with the Palestinian cause, they identify themselves as Israeli citizens and object to a land-swap plan that will annex them to a future Palestine, as Israeli Foreign Minister Avigdor Liberman suggests.
In the villages and towns of "The Triangle" — where several Arab localities are concentrated (including Umm al-Fahm, Taibe, Tira and Kfar Kassem) — the talk of the day revolved around Foreign Minister Avigdor Liberman's statement only. The statement, in which he proposed to transfer the towns and villages of the Wadi Ara Triangle to the Palestinians, caused an uproar. Even though many people are convinced that there is no chance in the world that Liberman’s program will be implemented, the sense of anger and insult are enormous. Especially since they did not hear anyone condemn this proposal: not Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who they believe probably supports his foreign minister’s plan; and not even Israel’s left-wing movements.
Suddenly, about 300,000 residents of the Wadi Ara Triangle, and the rest of the Arab citizens of the State of Israel, understood that not only is their loyalty shrouded in doubt but also their very citizenship.
In this article I quote the responses of people from Umm al-Fahm, one of Israel’s largest Arab cities (about 50,000 residents).
Wisam Agbariya is the city’s deputy mayor and a member of the Balad movement. Agbariya acknowledges that all the city’s residents found Liberman’s proposal to be extremely disturbing, but he himself feels that it cannot be carried out. “What, they already resolved the issues surrounding refugees and Jerusalem and the Jordan Valley and the only issue to argue about is Umm al-Fahm? Television crews are coming to the city, they photograph unemployed workers in coffee shops who say, 'Let us be,' 'Don’t do this to us.' I don’t call this a display of allegiance but of sycophancy. It is a hallucinatory proposal, just as populist as Liberman’s other suggestion of blowing up the Aswan Dam. All he wants is to pacify the right-wingers and his supporters. How can a country that is viewed by Europe as 'advanced,' tell a segment of its population that it does not want them? Is this the true face of the State of Israel?”
