A veteran Arab member of the Knesset, Seif A-Din Zuabi, resigned today. He said he did so for reasons of health and because of “the deterioration of relations between Jews and Arabs” in Israel. He accused the government of taking too weak a hand against Arab extremists.
Zuabi comprised the one-man Arab List affiliated with the Labor Alignment and had served in every Knesset since the first. His departure was viewed as the end of an era in relations between Jews and Arabs in Israel. He was always a supporter of the Establishment. In announcing his resignation he charged that the weak hand taken by the government against Arab extremists was creating anarchy in the name of democracy and was the main reason for the recent upsurge of anti-Israel views among Arab-citizens of Israel.
The former MK, who is known to have a heart condition, rarely appeared in Jerusalem during the 18 months since the Ninth Knesset was elected. He spent most of his time at his home in Nazareth, where he had served as Mayor for 10 years. His political decline followed his defeat in the last mayoral elections by the Communist Party candidate, Tawfik Zayyad. At that time, Zuabi blamed the Labor Alignment for failure to give him sufficient support against the well-oiled Communist Party machinery. He will be replaced in the Knesset by a Bedouin, Sheikh Hammad Abu Rabia, who served in the Eighth Knesset.
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