The Israeli government is seeking to strip Arab Knesset member Mohammed Miari of his parliamentary immunity because of his alleged contacts with the Palestine Liberation Organization.
Next week, the Knesset House Committee will discuss waiving Miari’s immunity. Miari heads the one-seat Progressive List for Peace and Equality, a far-left party that openly identifies with the PLO.
Following complaints from Likud politicians, Attorney General Yosef Harish initiated the move to prosecute Miari for violating an Israeli law forbidding contact with a terrorist organization.
Miari left Israel on Monday for an international conference in Geneva, and therefore will not attend the Knesset session. The Geneva meeting is expected to be attended by PLO representatives. Before leaving, he told reporters that by going to Geneva, he was “fulfilling his duties.”
He said that if Israeli peace activist Abie Nathan was willing to go to jail for meeting with PLO Chairman Yasir Arafat, then he would “sit in Ketziot or Ansar,” two large detention camps for Palestinians arrested on security offenses.
Miari is suspected of having had extensive contacts with the PLO in November 1988 in Greece, in connection with an attempt to send a boatload of Palestinian deportees on a symbolic journey to the Israeli coast. The attempt was foiled when the boat was mysteriously bombed, many suspect by the Mossad, Israel’s foreign intelligence agency.
Miari argued that his involvement with the PLO is in line with his duty to those who voted him into the Knesset. He described the efforts to prosecute him as an attempt to frighten the Arab population of Israel.
JTA has documented Jewish history in real-time for over a century. Keep our journalism strong by joining us in supporting independent, award-winning reporting.
The Archive of the Jewish Telegraphic Agency includes articles published from 1923 to 2008. Archive stories reflect the journalistic standards and practices of the time they were published.
