Housing Minister Ariel Attias said Thursday that efforts must be made to stop Arab expansion in the Nahal Eeron/Wadi Ara area of northern Israel. Speaking at a meeting of attorneys in Tel Aviv that was called to discuss reform in the Israel Lands Administration referred to the Arabs as "a population which, to say the least, does not like the State of Israel".

Referring to coexistence in the area, he said, "We can be bleeding hearts, but it's just not appropriate." He said that he had been asked by the mayor of Akko to bring hareidi-religious Jews there to counter erosion of the Jewish population. Attias also said hareidim should be kept separate from the secular.

Arab Member of Knesset Jamaal Zahalka said that Attias' program for strangling Arab communities should be stopped, and that Judaizing the Galilee and (Arab) Triangle was racist. Zahalka also said that the hareidi community should not allow itself to be manipulated. Fellow Arab MK Mohamed Barakeh said the "foreigners" living in Wadi Ara were not the Arabs.

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