United Arab List MK makes speech at memorial commemorating 7 years since Arafat's death; Abbas also speaks at ceremony.
By JPOST.COM STAFF, LAHAV HARKOVAhmed Tibi_311(photo credit: Reuters/Mahfouz Abu Turk)United Arab List-Ta'al MK Ahmed Tibi slammed the current Likud-lead government on Wednesday, saying it won't be long before the oppressive right-wing coalition votes to pass a bill calling for "death to Arabs.""The country's right wing and the neo-Likud are strangling our lives. It won't be long before they initiate a bill calling for 'death to Arabs,'" Tibi said to an assembly in Ramallah commemorating seven years since the death of former PLO chairman Yasser Arafat.RELATED:Tibi visits Barghouti in prison, calls for his release Thousands of Israeli-Arabs mark October 2000 riots Tibi also criticized Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman, calling him "the fascist settler that recently came to my homeland."At the conclusion of his speech, Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas joined Tibi, grabbing the Ta'al MKs hand prior to making his own comments.
The Ta'al MK came under fire from Likud MKs on Monday after announcing plans to give a speech at the memorial ceremony for the former PLO chair.MK Yariv Levine (Likud) sent a letter to Defense Minister Ehud Barak requesting that he block Tibi from going to the grave. The site is in Area A of the West Bank, which is under full Palestinian control and closed to Israelis who have not received special permission to enter.MK Danny Danon went one step further, suggesting that Tibi "belongs in Ramallah's parliament."Tibi said in response that he didn’t understand “the right-wing rage” about his planned speech.“I value and respect Arafat as the leader and national symbol that turned the Palestinian problem from a matter of refugees to a nation demanding renewal and independence,” Tibi stated.For several years before becoming a member of Knesset in 1999, Tibi was a political adviser to Arafat and represented the Palestinians at the Wye River negotiations in 1998.
