Haniya's government: Abduction of West Bank MPs meant to spoil Palestinian Legislative Council

[ 13/11/2007 - 10:59 AM ]

GAZA, (PIC)--, charging that the abduction was meant to spoil work of the PA legislature.

Two Palestinian legislators MP Khaled Tafish, and MP Dr. Maryam Saleh of Hamas's parliamentary bloc were kidnapped at the hands of the Israeli occupation soldiers in Bethlehem and Ramallah cities respectively at dawn Monday, raising number of kidnapped Hamas lawmakers in Israeli jails to 43.

In a statement it issued Monday, the Haniya's legitimate government affirmed that the abduction of the two lawmakers comes in the framework of the "Israeli relentless attempts to neutralize the legislature, and as a continuation of the Israeli policy of mass punishment against the Palestinian people".

The kidnapping of the two lawmakers came a couple of days after Hamas's bloc in the PLC that enjoys majority in the council succeeded in securing the needed quorum and held a successful session of the council in clear defiance to the Israeli attempts.

The kidnapping incident prompted the PA government to call on Arab, Muslim, and international parliaments and human rights and legal institutions to immediately intervene and to put pressure on the Israeli occupation government for the release of all kidnapped Palestinian lawmakers, including Dr. Aziz Al-Duwaik, the parliament speaker.

Family of Saleh affirmed that the IOF troops stormed their house in a pre-dawn raid and confined the entire family in one room before arresting and leading the lady lawmaker to an unidentified location. It was the first time the IOF troops kidnap a Palestinian lady legislator.

Tafish, who was released from Israeli jails few months ago after serving years in Israeli jails, was also kidnapped in a similar raid on his house in Bethlehem city, local sources revealed.

Unacceptable silence: Dr. Basim Na'im, the acting PA minister for prisoners and ex-prisoners described the kidnapping of the legitimate representatives of the Palestinian people as "clear Israeli undermining of international laws and conventions".

He also accused the Israeli occupation government of attempting to "weaken the Palestinian political system, and to suspend the parliamentary process in the PA-run lands" in the aftermath of the successful PLC session.

Moreover, Na'im affirmed that the Israeli occupation government had so far failed to file any charges against the kidnapped lawmakers, thus, making their detention clear political arrest with the aim to humiliate symbols of the Palestinian legitimacy.

In this regard, Na'im urged Arab and international parliaments to take stern stand against the Israeli practices and to categorically reject those kidnappings and not to remain idle towards them, explaining that the unsolicited Arab and international silence vis-à-vis those Israeli practices will send a wrong message of approval to those illegal deeds.

"It is indeed irrational that representatives of the Palestinian people are kidnapped [before the eyes of the world] without anyone taking action [to bridle those Israeli practices] as if it was an implicit approval of the kidnapping", Na'im charged.

Dr. Maryam Saleh, MP and former minister of women's affairs

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