Arab member of the Israeli Knesset, Ahmed Tibi, responding to Prime Minister Ehud Barak's dramatic resignation announcement Saturday night, declared that he would run as a third candidate against Barak and his likely opponent, Likud leader Ariel Sharon, reported the Haaretz Daily Sunday.
Tibi, a former advisor to Palestinian President Yasser Arafat, said that "neither of the two [Barak and Sharon] candidates is a worthy option either for me or for the public that I represent.”
"I am determined...that I will be a third candidate for prime minister, for all those who don't wish to or cannot vote for Sharon, of course, nor for Barak, in the wake of everything that has happened in the past months," he told Israel Channel 2 Television, according to Haaretz.
For his part, United Arab list MK Taleb a-Sanaa said the Arab candidate would not back out of the race until Barak changed the election into a public referendum for a peace agreement with the Palestinians, reported The Jerusalem Post the same day.
If the Prime Minister agreed to their terms, said A-Sanaa, they would throw their votes solidly behind Barak, stressing that for the time being, the Arab MKs have no faith in Barak or in his maneuvers.
The 11 Arab Knesset members have been raging in anger following the unrest that have struck the Israeli territories and which claimed the lives of 13 Arab-Israelis.
The Arab MKs repeatedly said that the Israeli government treated them as enemies and not as full Israeli citizens.
MK Azzmi Bishara was the subject of several attack from Jewish citizens “backed by” the Israeli police – Albawaba.com
© 2000 Al Bawaba (www.albawaba.com)
