Joint List MKs advocate for Palestinian citizens of Israel in Belgium, France

A delegation of Members of Knesset from the Joint List is in Brussels this week, as part of efforts to advocate on behalf of the rights of Palestinian citizens of Israel.

Participants in the advocacy mission, which is in the Belgian capital before heading to Paris, include MK Yousef Jabareen, MK Aida Touma-Suleiman, MK Jamal Zahalka and MK Masud Ghnaim.

The Mossawa Centre director Jafar Farah is another member of the delegation, which seeks to “engage in constructive dialogue with European Belgian, and French state actors”.

According to a press release, the delegation “will focus on issues relating to the Palestinian Arab minority in Israel” by “emphasising Israel’s obligation, according to Article Two of the EU-Israel Association Agreement, to respect human rights”.

In particular, the MKs will discuss “the question of the recognition of Israel as a Jewish state by the international community”, and “call attention to the Jewish Nation-State bill” by requesting “EU intervention in preventing the development of further anti-democratic legislation”.

The delegation “will also raise concerns regarding increasingly commonplace calls for population transfers amongst high-level Israeli politicians, a plan which threatens to deprive hundreds of thousands of Arab citizens of their citizenship.”

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Another topic being raised is “the importance of international diplomatic intervention in the particularly dire situation of the Arab Palestinian Bedouin community in the Negev desert.”

The delegation will meet with representatives of the European Commission, Council, Parliament and External Action Service, as well as representatives of the French National Assembly, the Belgian Chamber of Representatives and the French and Belgian ministries of foreign affairs.

The Joint List told Israeli media that “the size and composition of the delegation and the senior echelons at the meetings are unprecedented in an attempt by the elected representatives of the Arab minority in Israel to turn to international elements to block the racist and anti-democratic legislation in the Knesset and the government’s policy against the Arab population.”