Ayman Odeh interview, Fathom: 'change is impossible without us', 2017

[Q: What is your vision for the future of the Arab-Palestinian minority in Israel?]

Ayman Odeh: That there should be peace based on two states along the 1967 borders with very good relations between them, and that following the establishment of a Palestinian state there should be peace between Israel and all the Arab states.

Within Israel, my vision is of a civic, democratic, state driven by equality and social justice, and in which the reality that there is more than one people and culture in this land will be seen as an advantage rather than a hindrance.

[Q: barriers you face…]

Firstly, it is difficult to be an Arab Palestinian in Israel. By that I mean that you were a majority before 1948, and were subsequently turned into a minority against your will. In 1967 the State of Israel conquered the other part of your people. So in addition to being indigenous and constituting a national minority suffering from systematic and systemic discrimination, you are also part of a people which is under occupation.

[On the Joint List's goals:] every single Joint List MK believes in universalist principles, supports a Palestinian state alongside Israel, and is in favour of full equality and social justice. While these positions are seen as moderate in the international community, they are deemed extreme in Israel; just imagine how an individual in France or Britain who believes his country should be a 'state of all its citizens' is considered mainstream while here they're seen as part of an extreme minority. Israeli society is moving rightwards. In every country in the world, the Israeli Left would be considered right-wing – it is security minded and it supports the concept of a nation state despite the fact there are indigenous people here too.

[On national rights:] National rights mean that we constitute a national group and thus deserve collective rights with regards to such things as language and education, as well as recognition of historical injustices committed by the state. These aren't intended to be against the state, for I believe that granting these rights and recognising past wrong doings would ultimately serve to strengthen everyone's shared citizenship and their sense of belonging to the state.

[On Rivlin's 'tribes' framing:] we are not a tribe but a national minority within the Land of Israel. We deserve national and civil rights rather than tribal rights. Alongside the recognition that the Jews are a people, we should also be recognised as a people – neither of us are tribes.