CAIRO, 11 July 2003 — The Arab League yesterday condemned remarks by extreme right-wing Israeli minister Avigdor Lieberman who said Palestinian prisoners should be drowned in the Dead Sea rather than released.
“These statements full of hatred are clear evidence of the aggressive practices that hamper the Middle East peace process,” the spokesman for League Secretary General Amr Moussa said.
Lieberman’s remarks were “racist and odious,” Hisham Yussef said. “The Israeli government should not remain silent in the face of such statements that have necessarily negative consequences,” he added.
On Sunday, the Israeli Cabinet adopted a motion to free some 350 prisoners, around five percent of the estimated 6,000 Palestinians detained, in a gesture of good will toward Palestinian Prime Minister Mahmud Abbas’ government.
The issue sparked a heated debate in the Israeli Cabinet.
Lieberman, infrastructure minister and leader of the extreme right-wing National Union party, later told public radio: “It would be better to drown these prisoners, in the Dead Sea if possible, since that’s the lowest point in the world.”
Palestinian factions, including Abbas’ Fatah movement and the groups Islamic Jihad and Hamas, have demanded that all Palestinian prisoners be set free.
Meanwhile, five Western peace activists were arrested in yesterday after attempting to remove Israeli Army roadblocks in the West Bank city of Nablus, their group said in a statement in occupied Jerusalem.
An American, two Britons, a Canadian and a Frenchman, who were all members of the International Solidarity Movement (ISM), were arrested along with an Israeli while trying to demolish an earth roadblock with a bulldozer after already demolishing two others, said a statement.
“Israeli soldiers suddenly drove army jeeps toward them at high rates of speed,” the group said.
“The soldiers chased after a bulldozer, driven by a Palestinian and containing two internationals as passengers, which had been participating in the road block removal,” the group said.
A stand-off then developed which ended with six activists’ arrest. “All six were handcuffed and transported by Israeli bus to Ariel police station,” said the group.
There was no immediate confirmation from the Israeli police.
Four other foreign ISM activists were arrested on Wednesday as they demonstrated against the construction of a controversial security fence along the West Bank.
They were detained near the Palestinian village of Arabbuna after refusing orders to leave tents they had set up next to the wall and were taken to Ariel police station.
