Abbas: No one ‘sold the Negev’ to us, we must stop seeing each other as enemies

13 June 2021, 6:47 pm

3 Edit

Ra’am’s Abbas dismisses criticism of the incoming government for promising him generous funding for Arab communities in the Negev as part of the coalition agreements.

“We want all the parties to think differently. No one sold the Negev to Ra’am. The Negev remains in Israel, its residents are citizens of Israel,” he says.

Abbas says it’s time for both the incoming Israeli government and opposition to advance Jewish-Arab “dialogue, so that we understand each other and not view each other as enemies.”

“We belong to other nations, to other religions, to other communities. There is something that connects all Israelis and that’s our citizenship,” he says, adding that he hopes to bolster Jewish-Arab ties in Israel further.