Fatah has condemned Israel’s detention of Hassan Youssef, the Hamas leader and Palestinian Legislative Council (PLC) member who was arrested at his home in Ramallah on Tuesday. A spokesman said in a press release that the arrest of Mr Youssef is part of a “pattern of Israeli aggression on the Palestinian people and its legislative institution”.
The organisation has called on the Arab Parliamentary Union to take substantial steps to obtain the release of Palestinian legislators kidnapped by Israel, including international pressure “to bring about an end to Israel’s policy of detaining the elected representatives of the Palestinian people”.
The Fatah spokesman accused Israel of betraying its supposed democratic principles by its attacks on the Palestinians militarily and politically. Such attacks, he said, “especially those in occupied Jerusalem, contradict the basics of democracy and human rights.”
The Islamic Resistance Movement also denounced the 30-year prison sentence handed down to Fatah PLC member Jamal Al Tairawy by an Israeli court. Expressing its solidarity with Tairawy, Hamas described the sentence as “unjust” and a “flagrant violation of an MP’s immunity”.
The Israeli occupation authorities continue to hold 23 PLC members in detention: 20 are members of the Islamist Change and Reform bloc; 2 (Marwan Al Barghouthi and Jamal Al Tairawy) are members of Fatah; and Ahmed Saadat is the Secretary General of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine.