Akram Haniya, editor of the East Jerusalem Arabic daily A-Shaab, was detained by security agents early Monday morning and ordered deported to Jordan. His arrest and expulsion raised a storm of protest among Arab journalists and the Arab population in East Jerusalem and the West Bank.
Haniya, described by the military authorities as a Palestinian extremist and agitator, said he would appeal the deportation order issued by the Israel Defense Force Central Command.
Although his colleagues describe Haniya as a “moderate,” Israeli Arab affairs experts say he is moderate only in the context of the Palestine Liberation Organization, where he backs chairman Yasir Arafat against the even more extreme PLO dissidents and terrorist leader George Habash.
An IDF spokesman said Haniya is accused of “hostile activity in Judaea, Samaria and elsewhere.” Security sources said his position with A-Shaab was financed directly by the PLO and that he was a leading activist for El Fatah, the PLO’s terrorist wing.
If the deportation order is upheld, Haniya will be the seventh Palestinian deported this year.
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