Monday, September 11, 2006

Arab-Israeli MPs visit to Damascus causes a stir

Arab Knesset member Azmi Bishara and two other deputies from his party have been in Damascus over the weekend. They have met with high-ranking officials including Syrian Vice President Farouk al-Sharaa.

It was their first visit to Damascus since the Israeli Parliament adopted a law in 2001 prohibiting deputies from visiting "enemy countries."

Bishara was quoted by SANA as saying "the continuing support of Syria for the Palestinians explains the American and Israeli attacks against this country."

In response, Sharaa renewed Syria's "support of the Palestinian people's struggle to achieve independence and create their own state," stressing the need for "Palestinian solidarity in the face of attempts to incite internal strife.

Israel's Interior Minister Ronni Bar-On told the Cabinet that "all the necessary steps should be taken in order to bring them [the deputies] to justice and stop this phenomenon."

Attorney General Menahem Mazuz will now consider whether to open a criminal probe into the visit.

1 comment:

William said...

`Israel's Interior Minister Ronni Bar-On told the Cabinet that "all the necessary steps should be taken in order to bring them [the deputies] to justice and stop this phenomenon."'

That would be really peverse. So an Israeli visiting Syria would be prosecuted. How sick can you get?

By the way, I thought that Israel's Minister of the Interior was former Security Boss Avi Dicter - a much more reasonable man by all accounts.