Former Arab MK: cease pilgrimage to Mukata
JPost.com Staff The Jerusalem Post Mar. 26, 2004
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Former MK Abdul Wahab Darawshecalled upon Arab Knesset members to cease
making pilgrimages to Arafat's Mukata compound in Ramallah and to cease
glorifying him in public, reported Israel Radio Friday.

Darawshe told the Kul el Arab weekly that his colleagues should try to
balance their political activities with their obligation to serve those
communities that voted for them in order that they assist in solving their
every-day problems.

Political activities regarding the Israel-Arab conflict, he said, will have
no positive effect on the existing situation, nor will they have any effect
upon either Jewish-Israeli or Palestinian decision-makers.

Darawshe has been actively involved in promoting peace during his political
career. In 1997, he orchestrated a meeting between then National
Infrastructure Minister Ariel Sharon and the PLO's deputy leader Mahmoud
Abbas to help break the ice of the frozen peace talks.

On the other hand, that same year, during a visit to the Yarmuk refugee camp
near Damascus with other Arab MKs and Israeli Arab dignitaries, he made a
passionate plea for Palestinians to return from the Golan Heights to
Jerusalem.

He has been active in the struggle against honor killings and a proponent in
advancing education in the Arab sector.

In 1999, he resigned from the Knesset, saying he hoped to be an example to
other MKs, both Arab and Jewish, to leave after
a few terms and bring in new blood.

His call comes amidst the publication of a call by Arab intellectuals to
avoid escalating violence in their reaction to last weeks
assassination of Hamas head Sheikh Ahmed Yassin.