Peaceful intifada within Israel possible

The  existential threat Arab residents of Israel feel following the Shfa-Amr terrorist attack by an Israeli soldier could push them to lanuch a peaceful intifada (uprising), Abed Anabtawi, member of the Supreme Arab-Israeli Monitoring Committee, said on Friday.

The committee, which is composed of well-known Arab-Israeli public figures, plans to convene in Nazareth on Saturday in order to outline plans to protest the attack, which left four Arab residents of Israel dead and several others injured.

Shfa-Amr, the city where the settler-soldier carried out the shooting attack inside a local bus, is inhibited by Muslims, Christians, and Druze residents. 

“We feel an existential threat,” Anabtawi said. “This terrorist attack is part of the fascist atmosphere which controlled the entire Israeli establishment.”

“An intifada is not the most likely tool, but still possible,” he said. “We will fight for our existence and our future. We aren’t just residents of this country, we are natives.”

Anabtawi added that the term intifada should be viewed in Israel as a constitutional term, and not necessarily violent.

“Intifada is a legitimate tool in a democratic framework of a shared future between the Arabs and Jewish,” Anabtawi said. “We refuse to be held hostages. We demand to be equal residents. We are an important part of the Israeli society”. 

Anabtawi slammed the Israeli media for its weak coverage of the attack.

“The Israeli media proved again that it is part of the Israeli establishment, that was clearly apparent in the first hours of the attack,” he said. “When it comes to attacks carried out by Palestinians, it conducts itself in an unprofessional hostile manner”. 

“Intifada is possible, it depends on the extent of the threat against our existence,” Anabtawi said. “Every threatened community in this world has the right to struggle for its existence and well-being”.