Arab MP under pressure in Israel over Gaza aid ship

Tue Jul 13, 2010 9:26pm GMT

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* Parliament lifts Haneen Zoabi's diplomatic credentials

* Zoabi sees the step as further straining Jewish-Arab ties

By Allyn Fisher-Ilan

JERUSALEM, July 13 (Reuters) - Israel's parliament voted on Tuesday in favour of scrapping the diplomatic privileges of an Arab lawmaker accused of siding with the state's enemies by taking part in an aid flotilla to the Gaza Strip.

Lawmakers voted 34 to 16 for a motion that would allow the authorities to bar Haneen Zoabi, 41, from leaving the country, and lift her right to a diplomatic passport.

Zoabi is the only female member of parliament from a party representing Israeli Arabs that has called for Israel to redefine itself as a multi-ethnic rather than Jewish state.

Speaking to Reuters after the vote, Zoabi said the move, though mostly symbolic, was a potential irritant to already strained ties between Jews and Arabs, who make up about a fifth of Israel's population.

"This threatens the rights of Arab citizens to a just struggle for equality," said Zoabi, a first-term lawmaker. Continued...

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