MK Ahmed Tibi carved out his political name as a rare Israeli-Arab advising PLO
chairman Yasser Arafat, representing the Palestinian negotiating team at the Wye
River talks – then resigned in 1999 to run for the Knesset.
Given that
history, it should come as no surprise that Tibi decided to go to New York this
week along with Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas. But
parliamentarians on the right are outraged that Tibi, who has now been an MK for
13 years, would go to the United Nations for the critical vote on Palestinian
statehood – as a representative of the Palestinians.
MK Alex Miller
(Yisrael Beytenu) slammed Tibi’s participation in the Palestinian mission to the
UN, saying he is an accomplice in Abbas’s “diplomatic terror” against
Israel.
“Tibi is undermining the state in every way possible and
represents only the Palestinians and not the citizens of Israel,” Miller said,
calling to remove the “fifth column” from the Knesset and send Tibi to the
Palestinian parliament.
MK Michael Ben-Ari – who left National Union to
form the Strong Israel party ahead of the election – called for Tibi to be
banned from running for the next Knesset, saying he is a member of the PLO, a
terrorist organization.
Ben-Ari says he will bring a file filled with
proof that Tibi is a “double agent in the Knesset” to the Central Election
Committee.
Tibi says he sees no reason to choose between his Israeli and
Palestinian identities – and that he supports a two-state solution like most
Israeli citizens.
“We’re talking about a Palestinian state alongside
Israel, not instead of it,” he told The Jerusalem Post on Thursday.
“All
my life I worked for the freedom of the Palestinian people and against the
occupation – and in favor of two states. This is a historic moment and I’m proud
to be part of it.”
He said the attacks on him were an act of “political
terror.”
“My presence [in New York] is a natural continuation of my
positions which I represent in the Knesset in Israel,” he added.