Arab League condemns Israel's arresting Palestinian parl't speaker

The Cairo-based Arab League (AL) on Sunday condemned Israel for its arresting of Aziz Dweik, Speaker of the Palestinian Legislative Council (PLC), said a press statement issued by the AL.

Assistant AL Secretary-General for Palestinian Affairs Mohamed Sobeih accused Israel of violating international laws and rules of democracy by arresting Dweik, also a member of the ruling Islamic Resistance Movement (Hamas).

"Israel's policy of torture, kidnapping and terror will only further inflame conflicts and tension in the region, a matter that posed a grave threat to regional peace and security," said Sobeih in the statement.

Sobeih said the 22-member pan-Arab forum urged Israel to immediately release Dweik as well as other lawmakers and Palestinian ministers detained by Israeli forces in late June.

On Saturday night, an Israeli army force stormed into Dweik's house in the West Bank city of Ramallah and arrested him.

Israeli forces have twice surrounded the speaker's house but failed to arrest him since June 29 when Israeli troops rounded up dozens of Hamas officials, including eight cabinet ministers.

Dweik, a professor at al-Najjah University, was elected as the PLC lawmaker on Jan. 25, when his Hamas movement achieved an overwhelming victory in the parliamentary elections, in which Hamas won 74 seats out of 132 that the PLC consists of.

He was chosen later by Hamas movement leadership to be the speaker of the parliament and was sworn in mid-March.

Source: Xinhua