Fatah: Loyalty oath attempt at ethnic cleansing
HEBRON (Ma'an) -- The Israeli government's approval of a bill requiring non-Jews seeking citizenship to swear loyalty to a 'Jewish state' clearly indicates a policy of ethnic cleansing, a Fatah spokesman said Sunday.
Usama Al-Qauasmi said the amendment to the citizenship law targeted Palestinians, and undermined Israel's claim to democracy.
At the weekly cabinet meeting Sunday, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu declared his support for the bill, and said "No one
"No one can preach democracy or enlightenment to us," adding that "There is no other democracy in the Middle East."
Al-Qauasmi said the decision clearly showed Israel was "the most racist and dictatorial state in the whole world."
The bill showed the Israeli government was adopting the right-wing extremism of Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman, the Fatah official said. The amendment was one of a series of 'loyalty laws' proposed by Lieberman's Yisrael Beitenu party.
Lieberman recently told world leaders at UN General Assembly of his proposal to move Israeli borders "to better reflect demographic realities." Under his plan, residents of Arab towns would have their Israeli citizenship revoked.
Al-Qauasmi said the addition to the citizenship law was an attempt to side-step international law and UN resolutions which protect the right of return of Palestinian refugees.
President Mahmoud Abbas has refused requests by Netanyahu to recognize Israel as a Jewish state on the grounds that it would forfeit the right of Palestinian refugees to return, as well as delegitimizing the civil rights of Palestinians inside Israel.
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