Arabs do want to be involved:

It is depressing that there was no response to Melanie Phillips’ article on Israeli Arab Politicians (Israeli Arabs Deserve Better From Their Leaders, September 27) last week.

Not one letter refuting the generalisation that all Joint List politicians are racist leaders that want to destroy Israel, that they are anti-Zionists who don’t recognize the only democracy in the Middle East.

No one saying it is encouraging that greater numbers of Israeli Palestinian Arabs voted in this last election resulting in more seats in the Knesset. And thereby buying into normalisation of Jewish/Arab relations. 

I’ve just returned from Neve Shalom/Wahat al-Salam – the village in Israel where Jews and Arabs live in a shared, equal society.

Here young up and coming Israeli Jewish and Israeli Palestinian politicians get together to examine the issues of the ‘other’. I met Israeli Palestinian Arabs who want to be involved in political life so as to exert influence, advance towards national and civil equality in Israel, and strive towards resolving the West Bank situation and achieving a just peace.

Written by Jenny Nemko, Trustee at Oasis of Peace UK in response to an article published in the Jewish Chronicle. The article is available here. 

Please note that all opinions expressed on our blogs are those of the authors alone, they do not necessarily reflect that of the Oasis of Peace UK.