Mohammad Barakeh
Photo: Knesset website
Khaled Mashaal
Photo: Reuters
Report: MK Barakeh meets Mashaal in Abu Dhabi
Hamas politburo chief, Hadash chairman stay in same hotel during conference held in United Arab Emirates last month. Talking to Ynet, Barakeh refuses to address meeting but slams initiative to demolish Jerusalem terrorist's house
Hadash chairman, Knesset Member Mohammad Barakeh, met recently with Hamas politburo chief Khaled Mashaal in Abu Dhabi, the Nazareth-based Kul al-Arab reported Friday.
According to the report, the two met during a special symposium marking 60 years since the Nakba (the "disastrous" establishment of the State of Israel). No additional details were available.
Ynet had learned that MK Barakeh traveled to the United Arab Emirates on June 17 to attend a conference and stayed in the same hotel as Mashaal.
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MK Barakhe refused to confirm the meeting, but told the newspaper that "the issue of Palestinian unity is something that keeps me busy all the time. We are ready to exert every effort needed in this context."
Talking to Ynet, Barakeh refused to address the report. During the conversation, he referred to other issues, including the possibility that the home of the terrorist who carried out Wednesday's bulldozer terror attack in Jerusalem would be demolished.
"These are moves of vengefulness and of gangs, not moves carried out by a state. A state should not take assassination measures. Whoever commits an offense should be put on trial, but demolishing a family's home and revoking his relatives' citizenship?
"It has been proven that this cannot advance stability or security, but will ignite a greater flame, both from the ethical-moral aspect and from the practical aspect. This is unacceptable," he said.
Referring to the law banning MKs who visited enemy states from running for Knesset, Barakeh said, "This law lets the government rule which country is an enemy state and lets the government and the interior minister decide whether people are allowed to travel there or not. In other words, MKs will be held captive by the executive authority.
"On the social-national level, the law fails to take into account the fact that 20% of the citizens are Arabs and have a cultural, national and even familial affiliation with Arab countries. We cannot view them as enemy states.
"This is an anti-democratic law which tramples upon the separation of powers, destroys the essential immunity and is afflicted with extreme insensitivity," he concluded.
