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News :: Miscellaneous |
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Israel to strip first Arabs of citizenship |
Current rating: 0 |
by Jonathan Steele in Jerusalem
(No verified email address) |
08 Aug 2002
Modified: 05:56:26 PM |
>>>>This is hidden because it's DAN SPAM<<<<
The Guardian
Israel's one million Arab citizens, who are already treated with suspicion by their Jewish compatriots, faced a new threat yesterday when the country's interior minister revealed plans to strip two of them of their citizenship.
The punishment - on the grounds that they harmed state security - has never been used in Israel's 54 years of existence as a modern state. |
The prime minister, Ariel Sharon, called it "correct, considered, and balanced".
"Israel, which finds itself in a bitter battle against murderous terror, has to take measures to protect itself as a democracy," he added.
The interior ministry believes that one of the men, Haned Kishak, who is in an Israeli jail, has links to suicide bombings organised by Hamas. It suspects the other man, Kamal Obeid, who is in Lebanon, of involvement with Hizbullah. Neither has been convicted of any terrorist act.
In addition, the interior ministry wants to withdraw the permanent residency, a status below citizenship, of another prisoner, Shadi Shurfa.
The interior minister, Eli Yishai, acknowledged the step was "precedent-setting" but argued: "The situation we find ourselves in is unprecedented. We cannot have a situation where a citizen of the state of Israel is an accomplice to terror attacks and has blood on his hands."
Only one among the scores of recent suicide bombers was an Israeli Arab but many Israeli Arabs said yesterday that the state was beginning to treat them as a fifth column.
"The minister's move is part of the general atmosphere of assault on the Arab public," said Ahmed Tibi, an Arab Knesset member.
The plan was denounced as illegal by the Association for Civil Rights in Israel, which pointed out that the men were being threatened with punishment before conviction.
Tally Gur of ACRI said: "Citizenship is the most basic civil right. It cannot just be removed. The minister must also explain if he plans to take the same action against Jewish citizens of Israel whom he considers a threat to state security."
Asked on army radio whether he would act against a group of Jewish settlers suspected of selling arms to Palestinians, the interior minister sounded embarrassed yesterday. He said he might consider stripping Jews of their citizenship if they "strapped an explosive belt to their waist, but I can't believe something like that would happen".
Mr Yishai has written to the two Israeli Arabs saying a 1952 law gives him the power to cancel the citizenship of "anyone who has committed an act which constitutes a breach of trust with the state of Israel". They have 30 days to object.
The foreign minister, Shimon Peres, said yesterday that he did not believe the move would withstand supreme court scrutiny. He told army radio: "People should be tried and punished in the courts but their citizenship should not be stripped."
Meanwhile, the supreme court yesterday upheld the army's right to demolish homes of families of suicide bombers without giving notice. Judges backed the army's argument that the lives of soldiers who drove the bulldozers would be endangered if notice were given. |
