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<h1><font size=4 color="#FF0000"><b>Two Articles follow<br><br>
</font>PCHR slams Israel's kidnapping of legislators, political
leaders</b></h1>
<img src="http://www.imemc.org/graphics/date.gif" width=12 height=10 alt="author">
</b></h1><font size=3> Thursday March 19, 2009
22:21<img src="http://www.imemc.org/graphics/person.gif" width=14 height=12 alt="author">
by Saed Bannoura - IMEMC
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<a href="http://www.imemc.org/article/59452" eudora="autourl">
http://www.imemc.org/article/59452<br><br>
</a></font>The Palestinian Center for Human Rights (PCHR) slammed that
kidnapping of several legislators and political leaders of the Hamas
movement in the occupied West Bank. <a name="attachment35523"></a><br>
<br>
The PCHR issued a press release stating that the attack is yet another
Israeli violation against the Palestinian civilians and is considered a
form of collective punishment. <br><br>
The center added that Article number 33 of the Fourth Geneva Convention
of 1949 states that civilians should be protected in the time of war, yet
Israel continues to kidnap civilians and democratically elected
officials.<br><br>
The PCHR said that on early dawn hours of Thursday, the Israeli army
carried a series of invasions into a number of West Bank districts and
kidnapped four Hamas legislators in addition to several political leaders
of the movement. <br><br>
The Center slammed the arrests and the threats voiced by Israeli
government officials to target the elected political leadership of Hamas
and the dissolved government in Gaza.<br><br>
The PCHR said that such attacks and threats are considered collective
punishment against the civilians in Palestine. <br><br>
It voiced an appeal to the international community to intervene and
protect the Palestinian civilians living under Israeli occupation, and
said that the International Humanitarian Law and the international
principles of human rights call for protecting the civilians and bar
harming them in any way.<br><br>
Furthermore, the PCHR slammed the Israeli government for its decision to
use the Palestinian detainees as a bargaining chip as the Israeli
government decided on Wednesday to impose restrictions on the detainees,
including barring visitations and transfer of allowances, in addition to
barring hundreds of detainees from meeting their lawyers. <br><br>
The center stated that 11000 detainees are held by Israel and are facing
all sorts of violations to their basic rights guaranteed by the
International law.<br>
*****************************************************<br><br>
<font size=4><b>PLC on arrests of colleagues: Israeli administration
attempts at manipulation and pressure will fail<br>
</b></font><font size=3>
<a href="http://english.pnn.ps/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=4973&Itemid=1" eudora="autourl">
http://english.pnn.ps/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=4973&Itemid=1<br>
<br>
</a>19.03.09 - 16:37 <br><br>
Kristen Ess - Israel is trying once again to derail the Palestinian
national unity by arresting elected deputies of the Palestinian
Legislative Council,” Dr. Mustafa Barghouti said today.<br><br>
The Secretary-General of the Palestinian National Initiative, a renowned
leftist and Palestinian Authority deputy was commenting on the Thursday
morning arrests.<br><br>
A local Fateh leader in the West Bank, who did not want to be named, said
this afternoon, "You know where I stand politically; you know I
don't like Hamas. But this, this is entirely unacceptable."<br><br>
Israeli forces took five more members of the elected Hamas government
from the West Bank, a campaign against the party that began with the
party’s elections years ago. Some of its members remain in Israeli prison
from the first round of arrests, including the head of the PLC, Dr. Azziz
Dweik.<br><br>
Palestinian Legislative Council member Hassan Khreisheh said today, “The
arrests are an attempt by the Israelis to pressure Hamas on the Shalit
deal.”<br><br>
Currently, but not the first time, the Hamas party and the Israeli
administration are negotiating a deal through Egyptian mediation to
release hundreds of the 11,000 Palestinians in Israeli prisons in
exchange for the soldier captured in the Gaza Strip in June 2006, Gilad
Shalit.<br><br>
Hamas has not changed its criteria over the years of negotiations: it
wants the women, children, ill and long-standing political prisoners to
be released.<br><br>
Yesterday the Palestinians in Israeli Al Naqab Prison implored Hamas to
“not back down” in negotiations.<br><br>
Tulkarem sources said today, “Israel has no legal justification for the
arrests of political officials or members based on political
affiliation.”<br><br>
PNN reported today, “This falls within the framework of the arbitrary
actions and political arrogance of the occupation.”<br><br>
In a statement by Hamas, the party wrote today, “The deprivation of the
privileges of prisoners and the deprivation of personal visits from their
families is incompatible with all international norms and laws. It is
considered that these procedures as a whole declare a state of bankruptcy
[of the Israelis] and the case of the failure in Gaza after the recent
aggression that has not been able to restore to the Zionist entity the
[captured soldier].”<br><br>
Hamas is an all too familiar scapegoat as of late in the practices and
policies of the “west,” the Israelis, and the Palestinian
Authority.<br><br>
PLC deputy Mona Mansour commented that the pressures to manipulate the
internal Palestinian political scene have failed.<br><br>
Arrested this morning are Ra’fat Naseef, member of the political
leadership of Hamas and a member of the delegation involved in the Cairo
dialogue after a raid on his home in the northwestern West Bank’s
Tulkarem.<br><br>
Dr. Nasser Al Shaer, Deputy Prime Minister of the Government of National
Unity was also among the arrested as was Professor at Nablus’ An Najah
University Issam Ashkar.<br><br>
Palestinian Prime Minister in Ramallah, Salam Fayyad, also condemned the
Israeli arrests, despite the internal strife with Hamas.<br><br>
<br><br>
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