While Israeli Arab MKs made a defiant show of refusing to attend last Friday's funeral for late President Shimon Peres, leaders of local Arab communities are going out of their way to pay their respects to the Peres family. On Sunday, a delegation of some 20 heads of Arab local authorities in northern Israel traveled to the Peres Center for Peace to visit the mourners. Sakhnin Mayor and Arab Councils Forum Chairman Mazen Ghanim said Sunday that "we have come in the name of Arab society -- we are committed to continuing to work in Peres' spirit for equality and blessed peace." Representatives of the Arab delegation told Peres' daughter, Professor Tsvia Walden, that "Shimon was the father of us all, the entire [Arab] sector. We feel as you feel, that the entire state feels his absence. Anyone who boycotted the funeral did so of his own accord, and not in the name of the Arab public." Although Jewish law stipulates that the formal mourning period ended when Rosh Hashanah began on Sunday evening, the family will continue to receive visitors over the course of Wednesday and Thursday.
Israeli Arab community leaders pay condolence visit to Peres family
Delegation of Arab leaders from northern Israel visits mourning family of late President Shimon Peres, say that Arab community is committed to working for peace, equality • "Anyone who boycotted the funeral did not do so in the name of the Arab public."
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