There seems to be an inherent tendency in Israel to ignore as much as to deny the rights of Palestinians. If anything, this tendency reflects a deeper policy conviction amongst Israeli officials — that Palestinians do not deserve what is lawfully theirs. And perhaps this stands as the real obstacle to attaining peace.

The most recent incident has come from Israeli Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman who said that some Israeli Arabs should be stripped of their citizenship and be placed under Palestinian sovereignty as part of any final peace deal. Furthermore, he proposed that Palestinian communities that are within the Israeli borders be included with Occupied Territories and in return, Israel take some land from the West Bank.

This proposition is discriminatory and ridiculous. On the one hand, it eliminates the right of Palestinians who already exist within Israel from being able to continue living there. On the other, the proposition affects the Palestinians' right of return. Worse still is the fact that additional land is being proposed to be taken away from the already constrained and limited geography of the West Bank.

Comments such as these are counter-productive and harmful to the peace process and hence, should stop once and for all.