OCCUPIED JERUSALEM, 2 January 2003 — A boycott of the Israeli election by the country’s Arab minority loomed yesterday after the country’s electoral commission barred an Arab party and its leader from running for the Jan. 28 ballot. Azmi Bishara, an Arab Israeli member of Parliament, said the ban on him and his Balad party from running in the upcoming elections amounted to apartheid.
The commission dominated by right-wing nationalists voted 22 to 19 overnight to exclude Bishara from the race on the grounds that he sought the destruction of the Jewish state, a parliamentary source said. It also decided to bar Balad from being represented in the next parliament by 21 votes to 20, against the recommendation from the commission chairman, Michael Heshin.
"This is the first time ever a whole party is disqualified. It’s a sign of what is happening to Jewish democracy," Bishara said. "More and more people cannot accept the idea of Arabs in the Israeli Parliament. This is a step towards apartheid, at least in the political culture. The decision can still be reversed legally, but culturally the damage is done," he said.
Bishara was the second Arab Israeli MP to be excluded by the commission after Ahmed Tibi, a deputy from another Arab party, was disqualified on Tuesday.
On the other hand, the commission allowed the candidacy of Baruch Marzel, a former member of the racist Kach party, against the advice of Attorney General Elyakim Rubinstein.
Bishara said he would appeal the decision in the Supreme Court, as did Tibi, adding that under Israeli law, the highest judiciary authority had until Jan. 9 to announce its decision.
"If the Supreme Court rules against us, we will call for a boycott of the elections. If there is no democracy, then we will not make Israel look good by taking part in the vote," Bishara said.
Israeli troops, meanwhile, killed three Palestinians who were trying to infiltrate a Jewish settlement in the Gaza Strip, Israeli military sources said. They said the troops shot the Palestinians because they were approaching Elei Sinai in the northern Gaza Strip in a "suspicious manner". They did not know if the Palestinians were armed.
