Hamas parliament speaker slams Israeli 'stupidity'

Photo dated March 2006 shows Aziz Dweik,
the speaker of the Hamas-dominated Palestinian
parliament. Dweik has condemned Israel's
"stupidity" in arresting a third of the Hamas-led
cabinet and rounding up Islamist MPs.
(AFP/File/Jamal Aruri)

Jul 3, 2996

RAMALLAH, West Bank (AFP) -The speaker of the Hamas-dominated Palestinian parliament has condemned Israel's "stupidity" in arresting a third of the Hamas-led cabinet and rounding up Islamist MPs.

"I strongly condemn the measures taken by Israel, particularly the arrest of MPs and ministers. This is unprecedented in the history of humanity," said Aziz Dweik, a leading member of the governing Palestinian faction.

"It is a stupid policy which foreshadows the collapse of the (Israeli) government," Dweik told reporters before an emergency meeting of the Palestinian parliament at its West Bank headquarters in Ramallah.

Israeli troops on Thursday arrested eight cabinet ministers and more than 20 lawmakers from the Islamist movement, which has refused to formally recognise the Jewish state's right to exist and has refused to renounce violence.

The arrests came as part of a massive Israeli military offensive launched in a bid to secure the release of a teenage soldier captured on June 25 by Palestinian militants, including members of Hamas's armed wing.