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| By: Haaretz |
| Published: January 24, 2005 |
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We must continue to oppose the "right" of return, and persist in our efforts to prevent the creeping return both of illegal aliens and of other people through family unification.
Last week, a report was presented to the Knesset Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee stating that the number of Palestinians in the territories is far lower than the number accepted by Palestinian and Israeli demographers. In response, MK Ahmed Tibi (Hadash-Ta'al) said, according to Globes: "Use of the demographic scarecrow for good or for bad has the smell of racism. ... Solution to the conflict must come from the need for peace regardless of the number of Palestinians on both sides of the Green Line."
It is easy for Tibi to scorn Jewish involvement with the "demographic problem" and to be condescending out of a desire for peace. He can do that knowing that demography works in Arab Israelis' favor, because although they are Israeli in citizenship, they are Palestinian in national identity, and their affinity for their brothers in the territories is stronger than their affinity for their Jewish partners-in-citizenship. But Jews in Israel are not just entitled, but obligated, to pay attention to what Tibi calls the "demographic scarecrow," but looks to them more like a threatening demon because it is based on statistics. |
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The 'Demographic scarecrow'
- (Avraham Tal)
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