Ayman Odeh, lista unitaria araba, incontra associazioni arabe -americane ed ebraiche negli Usa
Sintesi personale
Ayman Odeh ha rifiutato di incontrare il gruppo politico degli ebrei americani per la politica estera, perché condivide l'ufficio con l'Agenzia Ebraica , affiliata con il Fondo Nazionale Ebraico che da sempre ha favorito gli ebrei rispetto sgli arabi bloccando la crescita delle città arabe
"Sono venuto qui per rappresentare l'opinione pubblica araba in Israele
al pubblico americano. The Conference of Presidents of
Major Jewish Organizations ha
rilasciato una dichiarazione dicendo che era "turbata e sconvolta" per
il rifiuto di Odeh.
"Come rappresentante degli arabi israeliani , non posso in coscienza partecipare alle
riunioni negli uffici di organizzazioni il cui lavoro non considera i cittadini
arabi " ha dichiarato Odeh
Egli vede l' aliyah, l'immigrazione degli
ebrei in Israele, come espansione della maggioranza ebraica in
Israele, a spese della popolazione araba e di questo è responsabile l' Agenzia Ebraica
Un altro problema è l'incanalamento di soldi per insediamenti
in Cisgiordania da un altro affiliato dell'Agenzia Ebraica,
l'Organizzazione Mondiale Sionista.
Martedì scorso, rabbini e laici leader del movimento di riforma di New York si sono incontrati con Odeh.
L'incontro è stato ospitato dal rabbino Rick Jacobs, presidente della
Union for Reform Judaism o URJ e dal rabbino Joshua Davidson, rabbino
senior della Temple Emanu-El a New York City,
Odeh, 40 anni, è il capo
del partito della lista unita araba che ha vinto 13 seggi nelle elezioni
nazionali .
"MK Odeh ha una visione ispiratrice per migliorare il rapporto tra sraeliani e palestinesi", ha puntualizzato Jacobs.
"Siamo stati lieti di ospitare MK Odeh in una delle nostre case leader
di culto, di condividere con lui la bellezza, la storia e l'attivismo
del nostro Movimento di riforma e per discutere insieme il nostro comune
impegno per una visione di Israele che attinga dai profeti il messaggio di giustizia per tutti. Un incontro significativo in occasione dell' Hanukkah quando riflettiamo sul
nostro impegno per la tolleranza in un mondo sempre più
intollerante.. "
Durante la sua visita di una settimana negli Stati Uniti Odeh ha
incontrato deputati e alti funzionari dell'amministrazione Obama alla
Casa Bianca e alDipartimento di Stato. Ha anche incontrato a Washington ea New York i gruppi arabo-americani e leader di gruppi rpgressisti
Israeli Arab Leader Causes Storm by Snubbing Jewish Agency Office During U.S. Visit
Ayman Odeh says that as representative of Arabs in Israel he
'cannot in good conscience' enter place that works to 'displace Arabs.'
“I came
here to represent the Arab public in Israel to American audiences,” Odeh
said in a statement Thursday after the Conference of Presidents of
Major Jewish Organizations released a statement saying it was “disturbed
and shocked” at Odeh’s refusal.
“As their
representative, I cannot in good conscience participate in meetings in
the offices of organizations whose work displaces Arab citizens, just as
in the Knesset, we do not participate in the Ministry of Defense, the
Foreign Ministry, and the Ministry of Aliyah and Immigrant Absorption,”
Odeh said in his statement.
The
controversy dealt a blow to Odeh’s message of outreach to U.S. Jews to
join his effort to advance civil rights for Arabs and others in Israel.
“Representatives
of a broad spectrum of organizations came to hear him and were rightly
upset by his decision not to appear, although he was in the building
lobby,” the Presidents Conference statement said.
A
spokeswoman for Odeh said that the displacement of Arab citizens cited
by Odeh referred to the Jewish Agency’s affiliation with a separate
entity, the Jewish National Fund, which has long been challenged by
Arab-Israeli groups for policies that have in the past favored Jews over
Arabs in leasing land. Arab-Israeli groups allege that the policy
blocks the growth of Arab towns.
The
spokeswoman also said that Odeh sees aliyah, the immigration of Jews to
Israel, as expanding the Jewish majority in Israel at the expense of
its Arab population. The Jewish Agency is responsible, with the Ministry
of Absorption, for settling newcomers in Israel. Another issue for Odeh
is the funneling of money to West Bank settlements from another Jewish
Agency affiliate, the World Zionist Organization, the spokeswoman said.
The
Presidents Conference statement said Odeh’s decision, made in the lobby
of the Manhattan building, deprived him of the chance to interact with
U.S. Jewish groups.
“We
received several suggestions that MK Ayman Odeh be invited and, in
keeping with the Conference’s decades long tradition of providing a
forum for a wide variety of points of view on issues affecting the
American Jewish community’s agenda, we extended the invitation,” the
umbrella group said.
“We have
had leaders of virtually every faction and party in the United States,
Israel, from friendly and unfriendly countries, and none ever refused to
appear. For a member of the Knesset to assert that he will not enter a
premises because it has an association with Zionist entities, like the
Jewish Agency, is disturbing and dismaying.”
Odeh in his statement said he offered to meet elsewhere.
“The
Conference will continue to provide an open forum but will not
compromise our principles and yield to such an outrageous demand,” its
statement said. “We hope MK Odeh will reconsider his stance if he,
indeed, wants to advance coexistence in Israel and promote understanding
abroad.”
On Tuesday, rabbis and lay leaders of the Reform movement in New York met with Odeh.
The
meeting was hosted by Rabbi Rick Jacobs, the president of the Union for
Reform Judaism, or URJ, and Rabbi Joshua Davidson, senior rabbi of
Temple Emanu-El in New York City, the URJ said in a statement.
Odeh, 40, is the head
of the Arab Joint List party, which won 13 seats in Israel’s
national elections in March, making it the third largest faction in the
Knesset. He successfully united four Arab parties to achieve that
success.
In
discussing his first year in the Knesset and his political goals for the
future, Odeh told the Reform leaders that “more democracy and social
justice in Israel is in our shared interest.”
The Reform leaders welcomed Odeh’s message.
“MK Odeh
has an inspiring vision for a brighter future for Israelis and
Palestinians,” Jacobs said. “We were delighted to host MK Odeh in one of
our leading houses of worship, to share with him the beauty, history,
and activism of our Reform Movement and to discuss together our shared
commitment to a vision of Israel that draws from the prophets of justice
and righteousness for all.”
The
Reform leaders linked their meeting with Odeh to presidential candidate
Donald Trump’s recent call for a ban on entry of Muslims to the United
States.
“This is
most appropriate at Hanukkah time, when we reflect on our commitment to
tolerance in our increasingly intolerant world,” Jacobs said. “When we
extended this invitation to Odeh, we would never have thought that his
very presence in the United States would be controversial. However, we
met the day after Donald Trump disgraced himself by calling for a ban on
all Muslims entering the United States.”
During
his weeklong visit to the United States, Odeh met with congressmen and
senior Obama administration officials at the White House and State
Department. He also met in Washington and in New York with Arab-American
groups and leaders of progressive think tanks.
Ayman
Odeh said he was hopeful in part because his alliance of Arab parties,
known as the Joint List, had done so well in the March voting.
nytimes.com|Di RICK GLADSTONE
A prominent Arab-Israeli member of Israel’s
Parliament whose party alliance made strong gains in the last election
expressed optimism on Wednesday about the future of a more inclusive
Israeli democracy and the creation of a Palestinian state.
Despite
the recent spikes in violence, polarization and the paralyzed peace
process in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, the Parliament member,
Ayman Odeh, said he was hopeful in part because his alliance of Arab
parties, known as the Joint List, had done so well in the March voting,
an achievement that captured widespread attention.
The
Joint List won 13 seats, making it the third-largest voting bloc in the
120-seat Parliament and a potentially influential opposition force in
Israel’s complicated matrix of political alliances.
While
a coalition of conservative and religious parties loyal to Prime
Minister Benjamin Netanyahu won a majority of seats and returned him to
power, support for the Joint List candidates among Israel’s 1.7 million
Arab citizens — 20 percent of the population — was one of the striking
outcomes of the vote.
“We
are living proof that Arabs and Jews can refuse to be enemies,” Mr.
Odeh, 40, a lawyer from the northern city of Haifa who views the Rev.
Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. and Malcolm X as role models, said in an
interview with The New York Times, speaking in a mix of English and
Hebrew.
Although
Mr. Odeh said the Joint List candidates captured only about 10,000
Jewish votes, “many parts of the Jewish population were able for the
first time to hear us.”
An ardent opponent of Mr. Netanyahu and the Israeli occupation of Palestinian
lands since the 1967 war, Mr. Odeh described the Israeli prime minister
as “the main problem” in the Israeli-Palestinian impasse.
He rejected suggestions by some Israeli politicians that an independent Palestine is impossible.
“There
is no other solution” except a Palestinian state side by side with
Israel, he said. “Israel cannot be a democracy if it occupies land of
other people.”
Mr.
Odeh also said that as a legislator, he would push for greater rights
and improved livelihoods among his fellow Arab-Israelis, who are in many
cases poorer and less educated than Israeli Jews.
“We are a large minority,” Mr. Odeh said, and the future of Israeli society “can’t be without us.”
Mr.
Odeh said that while the Joint List did not envision any possible
future governing coalition with the Zionist Union, Israel’s leading
opposition party, “we are willing to see all the options.”
Mr.
Odeh was visiting New York as part of his first trip to the United
States as a member of Israel’s Parliament, the Knesset, with an
itinerary that included meetings in Washington with lawmakers like
Representative Keith Ellison, Democrat of Minnesota, and Representative
John Lewis, Democrat of Georgia.
He
also met with diplomats at the United Nations and is attending a
Manhattan conference on Israel starting Sunday sponsored by Haaretz, the
Israeli newspaper, and the New Israel Fund, an organization that advocates pluralism and minority rights in Israel.
A version of this article appears in print on December 10, 2015, on page A11 of the New York edition with the headline: Arab-Israeli Parliament Member Sees Prospect for Peace. 
The leader of the Joint List (a political party composed of the Arab-Jewish…
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