Israeli Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni, a frontrunner in the race to become premier, said on Thursday that Arab Israelis should move to a Palestinian state when it is eventually created.
"My solution for maintaining a Jewish and democratic state of Israel is to have two distinct national entities," she told a group of secondary school students in Tel Aviv in remarks broadcast by army radio.
"And among other things I will also be able to approach the Palestinian residents of Israel, those whom we call Arab Israelis, and tell them: 'your national aspirations lie elsewhere.'"
The remarks drew an angry rebuttal from Arab Israeli MP Ahmed Tibi.
"She must decide whether she means to leave a million Arabs without political rights or a national identity, or whether she really intends to transfer a million Arab citizens to the Palestinian state that will be established," he said.
"Livni must be straightforward and open as is appropriate for someone running for prime minister," Tibi told army radio.
Livni leads the centrist Kadima party. She is in a close race with former premier Benjamin Netanyahu of the right-wing Likud party ahead of legislative elections set for February 10.
The polls were called after Prime Minister Ehud Olmert resigned over a series of graft scandals.
The 1.4-million-strong Arab-Israeli community makes up about 20 percent of the Jewish state's population, and consists of the descendants of the 160,000 Palestinians who remained on their land after the creation of Israel in 1948.
Source: http://www.france24.com/en/20081211-israeli-arabs-should-live-palestinian-state-livni
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