Last update - 00:00 13/12/2007
Druze MK probed for contacts with foreign agent
Police questioned Balad MK Said Nafaa for a second time on Thursday over the Druze lawmaker's visit to Syria in September, in defiance of a ban on visits by MKs to enemy states.
Nafaa confirmed to Haaretz that the police suspect him of holding contacts with a foreign agent during his trip to Syria, and he has been summoned to appear for further questioning on Sunday.
Nafaa said that the investigation against him is part and parcel of a new policy dictated by the Shin Bet security service against the Arab public and the Druze community in particular. Nafaa cited Shin Bet chief Yuval Diskin's statements in which he accused Israeli Arabs of presenting a strategic threat to the state.
The Druze MK also accused the security services of employing a strategy of fear and intimidation against Israel's Arab citizens by denying them the basic right of maintaining contact with relatives and acquaintances in neighboring states, including Syria.
During questioning, police quizzed Nafaa over a number of telegrams which arrived at gathering organized by Balad in the town of Shfaram in protest of last month's Annapolis peace conference. One of the telegrams was sent by a Damascus-based operative of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine.
Nafaa said that he understood from the tone of the interrogation that police were seeking to tie him to the telegram as part of a possible charge of having contact with a foreign agent.
Some fifty Druze clerics waited outside the police station in support of Nafaa.
Ten senior Druze religious figures who accompanied Nafaa as part of the same delegation to Syria were also summoned to appear for police questioning. The Druze replied that they have no plans to appear on the date noted in the summons - December 17 - since the day falls on the eve of Eid al-Adha, the Muslim Feast of the Sacrifice.
Following the police's first round of questioning Sunday, the public committee for the protection of civil liberties, which operates within the framework of the Higher Arab Monitoring Committee, asked Attorney General Menachem Mazuz to immediately halt the investigation, as Nafaa's visit falls within the framework of legitimate and transparent political activity.
"This activity stems from the Arab population's basic and natural right to contact and visit Arab countries," the committee wrote, adding that "the State of Israel seeks to isolate its Arab population from the Palestinians and the Arab world."
Nafaa's office said at the time that the visit, as part of a delegation of Druze religious leaders, was aimed at strengthening ties between Israeli and Syrian Druze, as well as improving links between Israeli Arabs and the Syrian people.
Nafaa said Sunday that the questioning only strengthened his belief that the investigation into him is politically motivated.
"I am an MK and political figure and it is very important to me to hear what the Syrian administration is saying, and what their positions are on issues such as war and peace," said Nafaa. "It was essential that I meet with them."
The MK added that, should he be charged over the visit, he will forfeit his immunity and be prepared to stand trial.
Nafaa's office said that Labor Party MKs and other officials have visited Syria in the past and were not questioned afterwards.
Nafaa himself visited Syria following the death of Syrian President Hafez Assad in 2000 and was not investigated upon his return to Israel.
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