ISRAEL: An Israeli parliamentary committee yesterday barred an Arab party and its leader from running in the January 28th general elections, raising the immediate threat of a boycott of the poll by many of Israel's one million Arab citizens and the more long-term danger of a further deterioration in relations between the country's Jewish majority and Arab minority.
In Gaza, meanwhile, three Palestinians whom the army suspected of trying to infiltrate a settlement were shot dead by troops. It was unclear if the three were armed, and there was no immediate response from Palestinian officials.
The Central Elections Committee voted in the early hours of yesterday morning to bar Arab parliamentarian Mr Azmi Bishara and his Balad party from competing in the elections.
The disqualification was made on the grounds that Mr Bishara had rejected the Jewish nature of the state by advocating that Israel should become a country of all its citizens, and had backed armed struggle against the Jewish state. By law, either of these is sufficient to bar a party or an individual from standing for election.
The decision follows a vote earlier in the week in which the committee barred another Arab parliamentarian, Mr Ahmed Tibi, on the grounds that he had supported armed militancy against Israel.
The disqualification of the two men has sparked a debate about Israeli democracy, and is likely to deepen resentment among Arab Israelis. Their sense of discrimination and alienation from the state has sharpened since the outbreak of the intifada uprising and the killing of 13 Arab citizens by police during riots in northern Israel in October 2000.
"If now they say we can't run in (these) elections, next they will say we can't vote," Mr Bishara said. "Israel has to make up its mind: either it's a liberal democracy or an apartheid state."
The final decision on Mr Bishara's fate, however, rests with the High Court. An expanded 11-judge panel will hear petitions next Tuesday against the committee's decisions to bar Mr Bishara and Mr Tibi. The court will also be asked to rule on a petition against the committee's decision to allow a Jewish extremist, Mr Baruch Marzel, to run in the elections. Mr Marzel was once a member of the banned Kach movement, which advocated the transfer of Israel's Arab population.
The committee is not a legal body, but is made up largely of political representatives of the different parties, and right-wing members are in the majority.
Chairman Mr Mishael Cheshin, a highly-regarded Supreme Court Justice, has become increasingly impatient with committee members, who have overriden his views in the case of all three lawmakers.
He told the panel that while he had been angered by Mr Bishara's past expressions of support for the Iranian-backed Hizbullah movement, "Israel's democracy is strong and can tolerate irregular cases."
Mr Bishara has predicted that if he and his party are banned, many Arab voters will stay at home. Ironically, that would strengthen the right-wing bloc and make it easier for Prime Minister Mr Ariel Sharon to form a government.