[E-rundbrief] Info 927 - Palestinian parliamentarian - death threat in Israel

[Matthias Reichl]

E-Rundbrief - Info 927 - Mel Frykberg (IPS): Arab-Israeli 
Parliamentarian Fights Death Threats. (Hanan Zoabi a member of the 
Arab-Israeli political party Balad and activist on Free-Gaza-flotilla - 
attacked in Israeli parliament Knesset and outside.)

Bad Ischl, 19.6.2010

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Arab-Israeli Parliamentarian Fights Death Threats

Mel Frykberg

RAMALLAH, Jun 18  (IPS)  - ”I stopped counting after I had received 50
death threats. I told my secretary not to tell me about them any more,”
Arab-Israeli Knesset (parliament) member, Hanan Zoabi told IPS.

”As a result of the death threats I've been given personal body guards
both within the Knesset and outside,” adds Zoabi.

Zoabi, a member of the Arab-Israeli political party Balad, was on board
the ‘Mavi Marmara', part of the Free Gaza (FG) flotilla, when it was
attacked by Israeli commandos in international waters as it tried to
deliver humanitarian aid to Gaza several weeks ago.

Following her arrest, interrogation and subsequent release Zoabi
returned to a very hostile Knesset where she was subjected to a torrent
of verbal abuse, including that of a racist and sexist nature. Some of
the comments were so degrading and insulting that they were wiped from
the Knesset record.

Another Knesset Member (MK) was prevented from assaulting Zoabi
following the physical intervention of other MKs.

Zoabi has been labelled a ”terrorist” and a ”traitor” and the Knesset
House majority has called for her parliamentary privileges to be
withdrawn. The Israeli interior ministry has also called for her
citizenship to be revoked.

”I intend to take the matter to court, if necessary, to fight to keep my
parliamentary privileges and citizenship,'' Zoabi told IPS.

Zoabi says that she and her fellow Arab-Israeli MKs have become the
subjects of a witch hunt by a majority in the Knesset, but she has no
regrets about joining the FG flotilla and would not hesitate to repeat
her action.

”It's hard working in such a hostile environment where every move I make
and every word I utter is subject to intense scrutiny,'' she says.

Zoabi recalls the horrifying ordeal the activists endured after the
Israeli naval seals had boarded the ‘Mavi Marmara' when nine activists
were shot dead and dozens wounded.

Survivors have accused the commandos of deliberately some of the
activists in cold blood. Turkish autopsies revealed that several of the
dead had multiple gunshot wounds to the head.

Zoabi did not witness any of the shootings or beatings of the activists
but she questions  the circumstances surrounding the deaths.

”The Israeli soldiers had taken command of the ‘Mavi Marmara' within 20
minutes of boarding. Yet it was an hour-and-a-half before they told all
the passengers that the situation was under control and ordered us all
to go downstairs. I wonder what happened in that hour,” says Zoabi.

”I was treated fairly carefully because they knew I was a member of the
Knesset. They also kept me away from other passengers who were beaten
and abused as they didn't want me to be able to bear testimony to
this,'' Zoabi said. ”They also deliberately withheld medical treatment
from the seriously injured passengers during the first few hours.''

”I went and held up a notice written in Hebrew to the window where the
commandos were standing, calling for medical help. I also called out to
them in English and told them there were critically injured passengers
who needed urgent medical attention, but they ignored me. The two died
after 40 minutes,” Zoabi told IPS.

”Minutes after the attack began, the wounded and the dead were being
brought inside from the deck,'' Lubna Marsawa, another activist, told
Electronic Intifada (EI), the not-for-profit, independent online
publication which covers the Israeli-Palestinian conflict from a
Palestinian perspective.

‘'We were then held for several hours with four bodies and dozens of
wounded, some in critical condition. Blood was pouring from the bodies
of the victims. We wanted to help them, but we had no medical equipment.
There was nothing we could do,” Marsawa told EI.

Zoabi also accuses the Israeli authorities of trumping up charges
against the passengers. ”When they interrogated me in Ashdod port they
accused me of attacking the soldiers, of threatening their lives and
being in possession of knives. I just laughed in their faces, it was so
ludicrous.”

Zoabi was released quickly due to her parliamentary immunity and the
Israeli police have not tried to charge her with attempted assault
against the navy commandos.

She doubts whether the self-appointed Israeli investigation into the
flotilla fiasco will be either credible or legitimate.

”They will not question any of the commandos involved or allow the
survivors to testify. Furthermore, [Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin]
Netanyahu has already reached a conclusion before the investigation even
gets under way.

”He said the inquiry would prove that the commandos acted in self-
defence and that Israel's raid was in accordance with international law.
What kind of legitimate inquiry is that?”

The feisty Knesset member now believes that the relationship between
Israel's Palestinian-Arab minority and the Israeli-Jewish majority has
reached a point of crisis and that the two communities are on a
collision course.

”The situation started deteriorating following the outbreak of the
second Palestinian Intifada or uprising in 2000 when 13 Israeli-Arabs
were shot dead by Israeli security forces during a protest against land
expropriation,” says Zoabi.

As Israel's increasingly right-wing Knesset tries to pass more draconian
legislation, much of it with racist overtones, against dissenters and
what it labels ”traitors”, Israeli-Arabs are being placed in an
untenable situation.

”They are forcing the Palestinian minority to choose between loyalty to
Zionist values or being labelled ”terrorists and traitors”.

‘'This either or situation is not only undemocratic but will also
backfire on Israel. Israeli-Arabs can't be expected to follow the
Zionist narrative or disassociate from their Palestinian roots,”
says Zoabi. (END/IPS/MM/WD/IP/CS/CO/HD/PI/PG/AC/WO/PG/RL/MF/RDR/10

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Matthias Reichl, Pressesprecher/ press speaker,
Begegnungszentrum fuer aktive Gewaltlosigkeit
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