9-Jul-06: Some of What We're Up Against - Part 2

A Palestinian Arab poll released today has found wall-to-wall support among Palestinian Arabs for kidnapping of the kind that led to the murder of an Israeli teenager two weeks ago. And a member of the Israeli parliament - an Arab member, it goes without saying - has no difficulty publicly expressing support for the same viewpoint and for the people who hold it.

The Jerusalem Media and Communication Center says that Palestinian Arab support for abductions of Israelis exceeds 77% based on a poll whose results it published today. Less than a third of the Palestinian Arabs polled rejected such actions as being harmful to the Palestinian cause. As to their views on the deliberate, daily firing of Palestinian missiles into civilian areas of Israel, a mere 36% said they reject them and find them harmful to the Palestinian national interests. The majority thought this was just fine. People polled came from all parts of Gaza, Judea and Samaria.

Wasil Taha (pictured above, standing beside the acting chairman of the Knesset chamber in an archive photo) is an elected representative of the Balad Party in the Knesset. In that capacity, he enjoys all the privileges of a member of the Israeli parliament, including the privilege of expressing support for kidnapping soldiers of the country to which he has sworn alliegance. This is a privilege he chose to exercise on the Islam Online website this weekend, explaining to chat-room participants that the word "kidnapped" was inaccurate in describing Corporal Gilad Shalit's abduction two weeks ago, and that the word "captured" was more fitting.

Perhaps you need to be a legal expert but on the face of it, the definition of the word "treason" seems to fit his viewpoint and circumstances well. We Israelis are in a shooting war with a determined and brutal enemy and where you align yourself in a war of this kind has practical, immediate and real implications. Taha is a graduate of Haifa University and lives in Kfar Kana, Israel.