Israeli Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni, who hopes to become prime minister after elections in February, ruled out the expulsion of Arab-Israelis after a Palestinian state is created. "The national aspirations of the Arabs should be realised elsewhere, but there is no question of carrying out a transfer or forcing them to leave," she told public radio. "I am willing to give up a part of the country over which I believe we have rights so that Israel will remain a Jewish and democratic state in which citizens have equal rights, whatever their religion," she said in reference to the creation of a Palestinian state.Livni had drawn criticism for saying Israeli-Arabs who had national aspirations should move to a Palestinian state when it is established. "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.'"
Rico says he will, painfully, avoid any Zippy jokes...
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