Eldad, Tibi Face off at Bar Ilan

by Maayana Miskin

(IsraelNN.com) MK Aryeh Eldad of the National Union and MK Ahmed Tibi, Chairman of the Ra'am Ta'al Knesset faction (pictured below with Sheik Raed Salah, the leader of the Islamic Movement and a PLO/PA flag), debated at Bar Ilan University on Monday. The debate was originally scheduled to be held last week, but was postponed because Ra'am Ta'al was involved in an appeal to the High Court of an elections committee decision to ban it from running in the upcoming Knesset election.

Eldad said the conflict between Israel, the Palestinian Authority and other Arab groups is not over territory. “Our mistake is in thinking that the Israel-Palestinian conflict is territorial and that if we draw a line between Jews and Arabs everything will be solved. This is a mistake! The conflict is a religious war and it's about opposing the people of Israel's right to have a state at all,” he told the crowd.

"Arabs are not traitors in the state of Israel,” Eldad continued. “They are the enemy in the state of Israel.” Arabs in Israel who seek to undermine the nature of the state should be transferred to Jordan, “where most Palestinians are located,” he determined.

The solution to the Israel-Palestinian conflict is “ending the occupation,” Eldad said. “I mean the Arab occupation of the land of Israel 1,300 years ago,” he clarified. “Large parts of the land of Israel are still under occupation: Gaza, Hevron, the Temple Mount and the like.”

Tibi attacked Jewish residents of Judea and Samaria. “They are the true poison, that tries to cement the occupation,” he accused.

"The settlers — not a single one of them will remain,” in Judea and Samaria, Tibi predicted. “They will all be expelled or make a diplomatic deal with the state of Israel.”

Jewish residents of Judea and Samaria who wish to remain in their homes may seek citizenship in “Palestine” after such a state is created, Tibi said. Eldad ridiculed the suggestion, saying, “A Jew wouldn't live more than a few minutes before being killed under a Palestinian regime, as Fatah supporters did not survive under Hamas.”