Ayman Odeh

Incitement and anti-Arab hatred increased significantly during the Gaza conflict.

I have no doubt that the Palestinian Arab leadership made a mistake when it did not accept the partition plan in 1947, but I want to try to understand it.

My biggest goal became to bring the weight of and the voice of the Arabs into the Israeli political sphere.

When I began my political career, I identified with Malcolm X.

Occupation is the Palestinian people's tragedy, but also Israel's present. We must liberate both people from the occupation.

The Palestinian people choose how to fight against the occupation.

My goal is that Jews feel safe in their country.

Eventually, I moved from a place of anger toward the Jews of Israel toward a place of embrace.

I come from a place of loving people - all human people.

The U.S. is friends with dictatorial regimes, then invades places like Iraq and Afghanistan, and what happens afterwards is a catastrophe. In the place of their leaders, fundamentalist movements that use the name of Islam spring up, and all that's left is terror and bloodshed.

The struggle for equality is really a struggle for democracy, and that's why it's a struggle for all the population.

In reality, civil rights are more important than national rights. They're the content, the day-to-day: work, life. But people are sensitive to national rights.