Interesting interview with Sheikh Hashem Abd al-Rahman Mahajana, the mayor of Umm al-Fahm, an Israeli Arab town, and the spokesman for the Islamic Movement.
On the separation fence:
Do you deny that thousands of Palestinians, some of them hostile elements, have traveled daily from the territories into Israel through Umm al-Fahm?
"I don't deny it. That's what caused the greatest image debacle to the city. Therefore, we have mixed feelings about the [separation] fence. For Umm al-Fahm it is very good. A blessing. For our Palestinian brethren - the beloved members of my nation, who are flesh of my flesh - and for the prospects of achieving peace, the fence is bad and unfair. But now there is a fence. And from the moment it was built, that phenomenon stopped. What will you say now? Are the city's residents to blame for what happened in the past? After all, this is the proof that it was all by chance. They simply chose us as an access route. What do you hear now on the news? Rosh Ha'ayin, Kafr Qasem, Baka al-Garbiyeh. Why? Because the hole in the fence moved there. That's all.
On the prospect of joining the PA:
What do you think about the idea of annexing Umm al-Fahm to the Palestinian Authority?
"Absolutely not. Ninety-three percent of the city's residents are against that, and I am one of them. This is our home, we are citizens like everyone else, and we have it good here."
What's so good here for you? What about all the complaints of persecution, oppression and discrimination?
"It's all true, as you know. Yet our situation here is still far better than it would be if we were in an Arab state. I admit it. I also say it in talks abroad. It's a fact. That doesn't mean that there is nothing to improve. There's plenty."
haaretz.com |
