DETENTION OF PALESTINIAN LEGISLATORS

That this House notes with increasing disquiet the continuing detention without trial of many democratically elected members of the Palestinian Legislative Council by Israel including the seizures of Hatim Qafisheh on 6th November 2007 and Maryam Saleh and Khalid Tafish on 11th November 2007 and the further extension of arrest without charge of the Minister of Public Works, Abder-Rahman Zeidan on 26th November 2007; considers democracy to be the most powerful response to those who hold that there is a military solution to the conflict; further considers that the unreasonable detention of so many Palestinian legislators perpetuates and deepens the conflict by indicating to Palestinians that they have little or nothing to gain from following the political path; and calls upon the Government to demand of Israel that these legislators be released without delay.