14:52 , 04.14.06

Petition

Shuli Dichter: Lieberman wants to reject 20 percent of Israelis

'Ban Lieberman from government'

Hundreds sign civil rights petition calling for Lieberman to be excluded from power
Rinat Malkes

Author and playwright Yehoshua Sobol is not only opposed to the very idea of Avigdor Lieberman joining the next government, but calls on the Israel Our Home Party chairman to retract some parts of his party's platform.

His name is one of hundreds of signatures on a petition initiated by the Sikkuy civil rights organization, calling on Prime Minister Ehud Olmert not to bring Israel Our Home into the government.

Sikkuy works to advance equality between Jews and Arabs in Israel. It appears Lieberman's elections campaign angered the organization's co-executive director of Sikkuy Shuli Dichter, before the elections results were released.

After the results, the frustration grew, after Lieberman's level of popularity became clear by the number of votes his party won.

Shuli said that a party which rejects 20 percent of the population "casts a shadow on the political arena," despite the fact that Israel Our Home received authorization by the Central Elections Committee to present its views and run for government.

This week, Olmert met with Kadima ministers and told them he had no objections to passing the interior security portfolio to Lieberman, if there is no legal obstacle to doing so. Olmert said he viewed Lieberman's addition to the government in a positive light, but objected to handing the portfolio to another source in Israel Our Home.

'Israel Our Home doesn't know Arab citizens belong to Israel'

But Dichter claims: "If Israel Our Home does not know that there are Arab citizens who belong to the State of Israel, it does not have an entry ticket to the government. This is something very significant, if Israel Our Home enters the coalition under the flag of rejection of citizens. The government won't be able to function, because the role of the government is to take care of all of its citizens, this means full responsibility. Rejection is absolutely not legitimate."

He expects to collect at least 500 signatures for the petition, which he then plans to submit to the prime minister and Labor Chairman Amir Peretz on Sunday.

Sobol said that Israel Our Home's platforms calls for a rejection of Israeli citizens, meaning a severe blow to the State of Israel's constitution.

"I have no opinion on Avigdor Lieberman, but it is unacceptable to me to play with the citizenship of Israeli citizens and to withdraw it. This is a very dangerous thing, because if they decide one day to transfer the citizens of (the Arab Israeli district) of Wadi Ara to the Palestinian Authority's control, in two days residents of the Galilee can also say that they want to move to another government. Every group could seek to join another place," Sobol told Ynet.