Israel moves to suspend Palestinian MPs

Fifty-nine lawmakers voted for the bill, widely seen as targeting the Arab-led bloc after three of its members met the families of Palestinian attackers.

The bloc accounts for 13 of Knesset's 120 members, making it the chamber's third-largest grouping.

The bill would give parliament the power to strip any lawmaker of the right to vote on draft legislation. It needs to pass a second and third reading in the Knesset before becoming a law.

Zouheir Bahloul, and Arab legislator, accused Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s right-wing coalition of “quietly stealing Arab members’ right to a democratic discourse.”

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu (L) talks with lawmakers during a meeting at the parliament, the Knesset, in al-Quds (Jerusalem), on May 13, 2015. ©AFP
Rights group the Association for Civil Rights in Israel (ACRI) also warned that “this law is being promoted to harm the Arab MKs (Knesset members), whose statements and actions do not find favor with the political majority.”
The Israeli chamber already has the power to censure the lawmakers for what it deems “unseeingly behavior.”
The idea for the bill was originally suggested by Netanyahu after opposition Arab lawmakers Jamal Zahalke, Haneen Zoabi and Bassel Ghattas from Balad Party, met with the families of the Palestinians killed by Israeli forces.
In February, the three were suspended from speaking in the Israeli parliament as punishment after they voiced support for the families of the Palestinian victims killed by Israeli military forces.
Netanyahu slammed the three for “building walls of hatred” after the visit.
‘Stop returning Palestinian bodies’
In another development, Netanyahu ordereda halt in the process of returning bodies of the Palestinians killed by Israeli forces as the regime fears subsequent mass funerals could trigger more anti-Tel Aviv protests.
Moshe Ya’alon, Israeli minister for military affairs, received an order from Netanyahu to stop returning the Palestinian bodies to their families until a comprehensive policy decision is reached on the matter, Israeli media reported.
The Israeli military is currently holding an unspecified number of bodies belonging to the Palestinians shot dead for allegedly trying to stab regime forces amid the ongoing tensions between the two sides in the occupied Palestinian lands.
Ya’alon’s ministry had resumed returning the corpses to their families on condition that they are buried overnight and in a low-key funeral.

However, several Israeli officials, including Netanyahu, have voiced support for holding on to the bodies to avoid mass funerals that could turn into large anti-occupation demonstrations.

Israel’s refusal to return the dead has time and again drawn an angry reaction from several Palestinian officials and human rights bodies.

Posters of the Palestinian victims held by Israelis are seen on walls in East al-Quds (Jerusalem) and the occupied West Bank, with Palestinians holding frequent protest rallies to demand the release of the bodies.

Earlier this month, Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) Secretary General Saeb Erekat called on the international community to pressure Israel to release the bodies.
Tel Aviv’s “collective punishments are now being carried out against the living and the dead,” Erekat said.

In a statement issued earlier in the month, Palestinian rights groups Addameer and Adalah also condemned Israel’s refusal to return the Palestinian bodies as “a severe violation of international humanitarian law.”

So far, more than 200 Palestinians have been killed by Israeli forces since the outbreak of fresh tensions in the occupied territories last October.

/SR