Skip to main content

Knesset plans lobby for return of Palestinians to their villages

An effort to create a majority lobby to force the Israeli government to allow Palestinian citizens of Israel to return to their villages is being advocated.
Arabs stand in Iqrit, northern Israel, May 10, 2008, as part of an annual pilgrimage to a village whose residents were ordered out by Jewish fighters during the 1948 Arab-Israeli war. The villagers, Arab citizens of Israel, have long demanded a right to return to the site to live. The visit coincided with Palestinian commemorations of the 1948 ?Nakba? or ?Catastrophe?,  when hundreds of thousands of Palestinians were expelled or fled from their homes in what is now Israel. Picture taken May 10, 2008. REUTER
Read in 

The most unusual group of Knesset members met July 26 to support the rights of the residents of two Palestinian villages who have been denied to return to their villages for 68 years now. The group included members of the governing coalition Kulanu Party and the opposition Zionist Camp, as well as former Minister of Defense Moshe Arens.

Upon the invitation of Ayman Odeh, head of the Joint List of predominantly Arab parties, Eli Alaluf from the governing coalition Kulanu Party and Ofer Shelah from the Yesh Atid opposition bloc, 30 Knesset members met to publicly declare their support for the rights of the villagers from Iqrit and Kufr Birim.

Access the Middle East news and analysis you can trust

Join our community of Middle East readers to experience all of Al-Monitor, including 24/7 news, analyses, memos, reports and newsletters.

Subscribe

Only $100 per year.