Becuase Everything Else Sucks

Israel Attacks Democracy: Kidnaps Party Members and Bombs Near PM House

By Manila Ryce
Published Friday, May 25th, 2007, 4:55 am
Filed under: World: Asia, Human Rights, War, Terrorism, World Issues

With the US media focusing on Lebanon, Israel has stepped up its campaign against Hamas. Yesterday, more than 33 senior members of Hamas were arrested by Israeli troops, including Nasser Shaer, the Palestinian education minister. This is the second time Shaer has been rounded up with other members of Hamas this past year. Last summer, Israel also kidnapped around 30 members of parliament and one-third of the cabinet to punish Hamas for being democratically elected to power. Shaer’s wife says soldiers knocked on the door of their home in the West Bank city of Nablus and took him away. His computer was also seized.

Muhammad Barghouti, a Palestinian government minister, said; “What accusation will they [the Israelis] charge al-Shaer with this time? Will they charge him because he is a member of the Palestinian unity government? Or because he is the education minister?” He continued, “It is clear that these arrest operations are a new series of harsh attacks targeting Palestinian people. These actions will not help in stabilizing the area or succeeding in what the [Palestinian] government seeks to reach - a comprehensive truce with Israel.”

Other Hamas party officials kidnapped by Israel included former cabinet minister Abdel Rahman Zeidan, legislators Hamed Bitawi and Daoud Abu Ser, mayor Adli Yaish from Nablus, mayor Wajih Qawas from Qalqiliya, and mayor Arab Shurafa from Beita, and Fayad al-Arba, the head of the main Islamic Charity in Nablus.

On Israeli Army Radio, Israeli Defense Minister Amir Peretz outrageously justified these totalitarian actions by saying, “Arrests are better than shooting”. Al Jazeera’s Odeh said, “Many Palestinians, observers and laymen alike, see these arrests as an attack on Palestinian democracy. They [the Israelis] are targeting not just the Hamas movement, but President Mahmoud Abbas’s national unity government - these are officials who were elected by their constituents of various towns and cities across the West Bank.”

The roundups came hours after Israeli planes bombed several offices and businesses in Gaza it claimed were supporting Hamas. Three people were injured and four stores were damaged. An additional nine people were injured later in the day, including 3 children and 2 women, by Israeli air strikes. In the past week alone, around 40 Palestinians have been killed by Israeli missile attacks in civilian areas. Electricity was also cut off by Israel in certain parts of town.

Just before midnight last night, an Israeli missile was fired at a shack in the Shati refugee camp near Palestinian Prime Minister Ismail Haniya’s home. The shack is normally where Haniya’s guards sleep, but it was empty and no one was hurt. Haniya went to inspect the site, but guards pulled him away because Israeli aircraft were still in the sky. Israel claims the Palestinian prime minister was not the target.

source 1
source 2

WPvideo 1.10

Update: Nour Odeh of Al Jazeera reports on the aftermath of Israeli air raids in Gaza

Related Posts

4 Responses to “Israel Attacks Democracy: Kidnaps Party Members and Bombs Near PM House”

  1. What is so totalitarian with arresting (yes, this is arresting and not kidnapping) people who break the law? If Israel would be leaving them because they are govermental people, it was discriminating law enforcement by status, what happens in every corrupted dictatorship.
    When somebody breaks the rules, he should go to a trial. Israel will give them a trial. I suppose that judge people is also undemocratic for you, or maybe the court system should be political like in Cuba? The Hamas wants to make an Islamistic and totalitarian regime such as Iran or Saudi-Arabia. Cutting people and kill them because what they think is not democracy.
    Israel is a democratic country exactly as every other democratic country. If you want to invent a new kind of democracy then establish a party. But don’t attack everyone who follows the normal standarts.

    Yonatan
    05/25/07 at 5:24 am

  2. @Yonatan
    Perhaps you could enlighten us as to what Nasser Shaer is guilty of that he would need to be kidnapped (oops, I mean arrested) by the Israeli military. By the way, where are these fair trials you’ve talked about for the 40 Palestinians killed this week? Are extrajudicial killings and collective punishment really that easy for you to look past?

    Manila Ryce
    05/25/07 at 5:36 am

  3. @Yonatan
    I wouldn’t be so quick to take pride in a “democracy just like every democracy in the world.” Not only is this statement blatently untrue, (Iran for example is the world’s fastest growing democracy, but I dare you to compare Israel to Iran!), but it also makes the false assumption that the state of democracy in the world is not in some sort of jeopardy.
    You’re obviously not from America. Here we have two parties that dominate everything, and as events over the past week have unfolded, they’re not that different from eachother. So starting a new political party, which in other countries could actually have an impact on how government is run, does not work so well here.
    Democracy in Israel, much like in America, is run like this: The people are free to choose anyone they want to represent their interests, just so long as they conform to ours.
    If you don’t see the contradiction here, then I’m sorry, I can no longer help you…

    PapaFigue
    05/25/07 at 9:06 am

  4. […] With the US media focusing on Lebanon, Israel has stepped up its campaign against Hamas. Yesterday, more than 33 senior members of Hamas were arrested by Israeli troops, including Nasser Shaer, the Palestinian education minister. This is the second time Shaer has been rounded up with other members of Hamas this past year. Last summer, Israel also kidnapped around 30 members of parliament and one-third of the cabinet to punish Hamas for being democratically elected to power. Shaer’s wife says soldiers knocked on the door of their home in the West Bank city of Nablus and took him away. His computer was also seized…(continue reading - The Largest Minority) […]

    Israel Attacks Democracy: Kidnaps Party Members and Bombs Near PM House
    05/25/07 at 10:00 pm

Leave a Reply

Tired of filing this information out everytime you leave a comment at the Largest Minority? Why not register as a user? You also get full access to our forum!

XHTML: You can use these tags: <a href="" title=""> <abbr title=""> <acronym title=""> <b> <blockquote cite=""> <code> <em> <i> <strike> <strong>