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Palestinians in Israel ride rip current into violence

The Israeli-Arab sector has been dragged into a conflict of interests, with Joint List Knesset members backing the Islamic movement.
Sheikh Raed Salah, head of the Arabic Israeli Islamic Movement, speaks during a press conference at an east Jerusalem hotel, on March 10, 2008. The Arab Israeli Islamic Movement spoke about threats it says Israeli works in the Jerusalem Old City pose to the Al-Aqsa mosque compound. AFP PHOTO/AHMAD GHARABLI (Photo credit should read AHMAD GHARABLI/AFP/Getty Images)
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These are no easy days for the head of the predominantly Arab Joint List, Knesset member Ayman Odeh. It seems as if every step he takes and every statement he makes manages to infuriate some group of people or other.

It began on Oct. 11, when TV viewers were shocked to see the first ever live broadcast of the bitter dispute among Israeli Arabs over the wave of violence currently plaguing the country. As my colleague Ben Caspit wrote, Nazareth Mayor Ali Salam's attack on Odeh testifies to the split within the Arab community and the serious dilemma it faces.

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