A democratic secular state for Israel and rights for the arab minority

Awad is a journalist, editor and a prominent political leader among the Palestinian Arab minority in Israel today. The NDA advocates that Israel should be a state for all its citizens. The NDA campaigns for a democratic secular state, as the only way in which Arab citizens will achieve Full cultural, national and minority rights.

Awad will speak about the plight of Palestinians in Israel - who constitute 20 percent of Israel's population - and about the latest escalation in practical and legal measures against the Palestinian minority in Israel, a part of the population considered a strategic threat to the state of Israel by the political and security establishment.

He will focus his remarks on the political persecution of and conspiracy against the leader of the NDA party, Member of Knesset Azmi Bishara, and how this conspiracy is consistent with Israel's long-standing hostile policy against its non-Jewish population. Bishara was forced into exile in March 2007 when he fled fabricated charges of treason. Awad will also elaborate on the main reason behind this conspiracy: the Arab demand to transform Israel from a Jewish state into a state for all its citizens, where Arab and Jews
can live in full equality without racism, discrimination, occupation and colonialism.

Also, he will present his analysis of Israel's refusal to accept a just solution to the Palestinian question; this refusal is based on the state's view of Arab citizens of Israel as a demographic threat to the Jewish character of the state of Israel. The Palestinians and their plight in Israel have been consistently ignored by major actors in the Middle East. Awad intends to shed light on this issue and elicit support for this cause.

Biographical details:

Awad Abdel Fattah was born in 1957 in Kawkab (Abu El-Hija) in Palestine -Israel today. He received his B.A. in English Language and literature from Ben Gurion University in Beer El-Seba in 1980. After graduation, Mr. Abdel Fattah taught as a high school teacher for one year before being dismissed by the Israeli Education Ministry for political reasons. He challenged his dismissal in a hearing before the Education Ministry and won his case 14 years later. From 1981-1989, Mr. Abdel Fattah worked as a journalist in the English-language newspaper “Al-Fajar” in Jerusalem. In 1982-1983, he received administrative orders from the state of Israel banning him from entering the West Bank and Gaza Strip for “security reasons.” During this time, he was also arrested many times (for a few days each time) but was never convicted of a crime. In 1990, he received an order from the Defense Minister banning him from attending a UN conference of NGOs on the Question of Palestine in Vienna, Austria.

In 1989, he became the editor of the Arabic “Al-Midan” weekly newspaper of the Abna’ al-Balad political movement, which advocated a one – state solution of a secular democratic state. He remained editor of “Al-Midan” until 1992 when its owner was pressured by the Israeli General Security Service (GSS( to revoke the newspaper’s license. During this time, Mr. Abdel Fattah was also one of the leaders of the Abna’ al-Balad movement and eventually became one of the founders of the National Democratic Assembly political party in 1995. From 1995-1997, he was the editor of the Arabic “Fasl al-Maql” weekly newspaper of the National Democratic Assembly (NDA). In 1997, he became Secretary General of the party, a position he continues to hold to this day. During his time with various newspapers, he wrote many political articles about the political situation in Israel and Palestine.
Mr. Abdel Fattah continues to write frequently about the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and the Arab minority in Israel and is a prominent political leader among the Palestinian Arab minority in Israel today.