英语六级阅读 Israeli Arab party to petition supreme court against disqualification
2009-01-14来源:和谐英语
The Balad party, an Israeli Arab party which has been deprived of its eligibility for the upcoming general election, on Tuesday announced that it would appeal to the Supreme Court against the disqualification.
The Central Elections Committee (CEC) on Monday voted for depriving the eligibility of the Balad party following a heated debate to give a red light to both Balad and another Arab party named United Arab List-Ta’al.
Members of the two parties, which respectively possess three seats in the outgoing parliament, condemned the decision as "racist."
"We decided to exhaust all possible measures in order to be able to take part in the elections," Balad Chairman Jamal Zahalka was quoted by local news service quoted as saying on Tuesday.
"We think that the notion represented in our platform calling for ’a state of all its citizens’ is democratic and should not be outlawed," he added.www.hxen.net
The United Arab List-Ta’al has also vowed to challenge it in the Supreme Court.
The CEC took on the qualification issue after receiving three requests from right-wing lawmakers, who claimed that Balad does not recognize Israel as a Jewish state and supports the armed struggle against Israel.
Noting that the decision was not surprising, Zahalka said it reflected a trend of rightist radicalization in Israel’s political arena.
In the past, the Supreme Court overturned several decisions to disqualify Balad from national elections on similar grounds.
The confrontation in the political field was widely seen as a sign of the increasingly tense relations between Arabs and Jews in the Jewish state over Israel’s ongoing offensive in the Gaza Strip.
The two Arab parties lashed out at the so-called Operation Cast Lead, which has killed over 930 in the Palestinian enclave, and accused the current ruling Kadima party of staging the war "as an elections campaign strategy." Israel’s government officials have firmly denied such charges.
The Central Elections Committee (CEC) on Monday voted for depriving the eligibility of the Balad party following a heated debate to give a red light to both Balad and another Arab party named United Arab List-Ta’al.
Members of the two parties, which respectively possess three seats in the outgoing parliament, condemned the decision as "racist."
"We decided to exhaust all possible measures in order to be able to take part in the elections," Balad Chairman Jamal Zahalka was quoted by local news service quoted as saying on Tuesday.
"We think that the notion represented in our platform calling for ’a state of all its citizens’ is democratic and should not be outlawed," he added.www.hxen.net
The United Arab List-Ta’al has also vowed to challenge it in the Supreme Court.
The CEC took on the qualification issue after receiving three requests from right-wing lawmakers, who claimed that Balad does not recognize Israel as a Jewish state and supports the armed struggle against Israel.
Noting that the decision was not surprising, Zahalka said it reflected a trend of rightist radicalization in Israel’s political arena.
In the past, the Supreme Court overturned several decisions to disqualify Balad from national elections on similar grounds.
The confrontation in the political field was widely seen as a sign of the increasingly tense relations between Arabs and Jews in the Jewish state over Israel’s ongoing offensive in the Gaza Strip.
The two Arab parties lashed out at the so-called Operation Cast Lead, which has killed over 930 in the Palestinian enclave, and accused the current ruling Kadima party of staging the war "as an elections campaign strategy." Israel’s government officials have firmly denied such charges.
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