Israeli Arab Minister Frej: ” No alternatives to negotiated peace ”

“In the long run, there is no alternative but to negotiate a peace” between Israelis and Palestinians. Thus, with Adnkronos, Israel’s Minister of Regional Cooperation, Issawi Frej, talks about the escalation on the border between the Gaza Strip and Israel after the raids against Islamic Jihad. ” I do not give advice on how to stop the fighting, this is up to the premier, the foreign minister and the army ”, he says, but ” we must not be afraid to talk to each other. It is the only way to stop the war and fear. ” Arab, Muslim and chosen as minister in the coalition government led by Prime Minister Naftali Bennett, Frej knows that he is ” a symbol ”, that he is proof that peaceful coexistence, between Arabs and Jews in Israel, is viable. ” In wars there are no winners, but there are above all frightened children and adults ”, he argues, underlining that ” fear does not depend on nationality or religion, but is common to all of us ”. And therefore “ we are all obliged to do everything possible to put an end to the fighting. ” Frej, who is the second Arab minister of an Israeli government after Labor Raleb Majadele, in office from 2007 to 2009 as Minister of Science , of Culture and Sport, believes that ” in the end the fighting will end. But without a political initiative it is only a matter of time, until the next ” round of violence.