Arab MK Celebrates Arafat Legacy of "Reconciliation"

Jerusalem, 5 March, 2017 (TPS) -- Members of the Joint List Knesset faction set out Sunday to defend the honor of Palestine Liberation Organization founder Yasser Arafat and the “right” of Arab Israelis to name a street in honor of the late leader.

Sunday monring, Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu told the cabinet that “no street in the State of Israel will be named after murderers of Israelis and Jews,” and added that he has undertaken steps with Interior Minister Aryeh Deri to remove street signs celebrating Arafat, 1930’s-era mufti of Jerusalem Haj Amin al-Husseini and others.

Arab leaders were quick to respond. MK Yousef Jabareen celebrated Arafat as “the national leader of the Palestinian people” and an individual who is intimately tied to the Palestinian “narrative”.

“The Arab minority in Israel has the right to memorialize his memory in its public space, including naming streets after him.

“Arafat led the Palestinian people to an historic reconciliation with Israel under the leadership of Yitzhak Rabin and supported the two-state solution in the 1967 borders. Netanyahu’s opposition to naming a street after him in an Arab settlement is a reflection of [Netanyahu’s] rejection of the national identity of the Arab minority and of his opposition to any sort of historic reconciliation with the Palestinian people. Netanyahu is leading the two peoples to disaster and is ensuring the continuation of the circle of violence,” Jabareen said.