Kesher Talk

Counter-intuitive voting strategies: An Arab-Israeli village, Abu Ghosh, voted for Shas, the Sephardi religious party. Why? The support for Shas stems from practical political legwork.

A village leader explains, "they came here, they discussed nicely with us, they made speeches, and they understand the position of minorities like us... Labor failed to send anyone. Perhaps they think we're too small to matter." He said he considers himself an Israeli Arab, not a Palestinian or a Palestinian Israeli. "I was born here, I grew up here, and I work with the Jewish Israelis here, so I can't change."

In Abu Ghosh, residents like their status as Israeli citizens and balk at any suggestion that some Arab towns and villages could be ceded to a new Palestinian state in some form of land-swap deal.

posted by William @ 1/30/2003 09:45:55 AM