Yisrael Beiteinu party slogan calls for Israeli-Arab land swaps

Marcy Oster

Israeli political party Yisrael Beiteinu’s new campaign slogan calls for swapping land on which Israeli-Arabs live with West Bank land with the Palestinians.

The new slogan,  “Ariel for Israel, Umm al-Fahm to Palestine,” was unveiled Thursday.  The party’s other slogan is “Tachles, Liberman.” Tachles is a Yiddish expression meaning telling it like it is.

The Israeli-Arab city of Umm al-Fahm is located in Israel’s Triangle region between central Israel and Haifa and is known for its Arab nationalism and sympathy for the Palestinian cause.

It is the largest Arab-Israeli city; Ariel, also a city, is the largest Jewish settlement in the West Bank.

Party leader Avigdor Liberman, who currently is the foreign minister, has called for many years for a transfer of Israeli-Arabs as part of an Israeli-Palestinian peace deal.

Liberman said during a news conference Thursday that the Yisrael Beiteinu party would emphasize the Israeli-Palestinian conflict during the campaign

He said that Arab-Israeli Knesset members should move to the Palestinian Authority and lose their citizenship when the new state is formed.

“There is no reason why all those inciters and representatives of terrorist groups in Israel’s Knesset should not move to the Palestinian Authority. Haneen Zoabi, Ahmed Tibi and Ra’ad Salah — there is no reason why they should continue to be Israeli citizens,” he said.

Israeli-Arabs who are loyal to Israel can stay, he added.

Liberman told reporters that he and members of his party will not discuss with the corruption investigation in which several party leaders and supporters were arrested or questioned last month.