The Governing Council of the Inter-Parliamentary Union,

Having before it the case of the above-mentioned parliamentarians, all of whom were elected in January 2006 to the Palestinian Legislative Council, and taking note of the detailed study and report (CL/179/11(a)-R.1) prepared by the Committee on the Human Rights of Parliamentarians pursuant to the Procedure for the Treatment by the IPU of Communications concerning Violations of the Human Rights of Members of Parliament,

Considering the following information on file:

• The parliamentarians concerned, eight of whom (Mr. Omar Abdel Razeq, Mr. Sameer Abu-Eisha, Mr. Wafi Kabha, Mr. Issa Al Jaa-bari, Mr. Khaled Abu Arafeh, Mr Fakhri Turkuman, Mr. Mohammed Al-Barghouti and Mr. Nayef Al-Rojoub) are also government ministers, were all elected on the list of Hamas (Change and Reform) in the January 2006 elections to the Palestinian Legislative Council; in the light of independent election observer reports, the international community unanimously considered those elections to have been free, fair and secure;

• With the exception of the first three parliamentarians referred to below, all the parliamentarians concerned were arrested in the early hours of 29 June 2006 in the occupied West Bank along with scores of Hamas members and officials and transferred to Israeli prisons; no charges are said to have been brought against them; according to official statements by the Israeli authorities, they were arrested "for being members and activists in a terrorist organization whose activities are banned by law";

• On 12 September 2006, the Ofer military tribunal ordered the parliamentarians' release on bail; however, on 25 September 2006, an Israeli military appeal court in the West Bank overturned that decision and ruled that they would have to remain in jail pending trial;

• On 30 June 2006, the Israeli Interior Minister revoked the East Jerusalem residence permits of Mr. Muhammad Abu-Teir, Mr. Ahmad Attoun, Mr. Muhammad Totah and Mr. Khaled Abu-Arafeh, who is also the Palestinian Minister of Jerusalem Affairs, on the grounds that they were deemed to be residents in the State of Israel and, therefore, obliged to pay allegiance to the State of Israel; but that nonetheless their actions proved otherwise and indicated their allegiance was to the Palestinian Authority,

Noting in this respect the following observations made by the Speaker of the Knesset in her letter of 22 August 2006: "the indirect acceptance by the Palestinian Government of responsibility for" the abduction of Cpl. Gilad Shalit on 25 June 2006 and the murder of two Israeli soldiers, and the demand for an exchange of prisoners were clear proof that Hamas is chiefly concerned, not for the welfare of the Palestinian nation, but to implement its policy of terrorism against Israel; in this respect, there was no distinction between the political echelons of the organization and its military branch, the Izzadin al-Qassam Brigade; until the Hamas-led government began to engage actively and openly in terrorism, by firing Kassam rockets and kidnapping an Israeli soldier, Israel had refrained from taking any direct action against Hamas so as to give the organization the opportunity to change its approach and meet the three basic conditions set by the Quartet; however, as soon as Hamas terrorists, with the backing of the Hamas-led government, chose to continue their active engagement against the State of Israel, Israel began to take steps to act against Hamas in order to protect its citizens from attack; this included the arrest of members of Hamas, which had long been designated a terrorist organization and was therefore an unlawful organization; the suspects, including the parliamentarians in question, had been arrested in order to ascertain their membership of Hamas and indict them for their involvement in additional acts of terrorism; they had been arrested as part of a routine criminal investigation into a suspected criminal offence, in this case membership and leadership of and action on behalf of a terrorist organization,

1. Thanks the Speaker of the Knesset for the information she provided;

2. Is alarmed at the sweeping arrests of members of the Palestinian Legislative Council, and fears that these arrests are based not on formal charges of any specific criminal activity but rather on the political affiliation of the persons concerned, and that they were therefore carried out for non-judicial purposes;

3. Recalls in this respect that the parliamentarians in question stood in the January 2006 elections for the Palestinian Legislative Council, which the international community, including Israel, considered to have been free, fair and secure;

4. Firmly recalls that, under international human rights law and international humanitarian law, no arrest shall be arbitrary and no one shall be held responsible for criminal acts committed by others; refers in this respectto Article 33 of the Fourth Geneva Convention (Relative to the Protection of Civilian Persons in Time of War), which specifically provides that "no protected person may be punished for an offence he or she has not personally committed";

5. Is deeply concerned that the arrests not only prevent the parliamentarians concerned - a third of the elected Hamas representatives - from carrying out the mandate for which they were elected but also greatly impairs the right of the Palestinian people to be represented by persons of their choice;

6. Urges the Israeli authorities to release the parliamentarians concerned forthwith or to charge them without delay with a recognizable criminal offence and try them in a fair and transparent legal process, guaranteeing full right of defence, as required under international human rights law and international humanitarian law;

7. Expresses further concern at the revocation of the East Jerusalem residence permits of four members of the Palestinian Legislative Council belonging to Hamas, and recalls that, in keeping with Article 45 of the Hague Convention (IV) of October 1907, which is considered to embody rules of customary international law, theinhabitants of occupied territory, such as East Jerusalem, shall not be compelled to swear allegiance to the occupying power;

8. Therefore calls on the authorities, in keeping with international law, to reconsider their decision to revoke the East Jerusalem residence permits of the four parliamentarians concerned;

9. Requests the Secretary General to convey this resolution to the Israeli authorities and to the sources of the communication;

10. Requests the Committee to continue examining this case and report to it at its next session, to be held on the occasion of the 116th Assembly (April-May 2007).

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* The delegation of Israel expressed its reservation regarding the resolution.

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