Israeli Arab journalist banned from leaving state

[Englander]

By Yoav Stern

The Shin Bet security services have prohibited Israeli Arab author and journalist, Antoine Shalhat, from leaving the country until the end of the month for fear he may harm state security.

Shalhat received a letter at the beginning of the week informing him that Prime Minister Ariel Sharon, who is also acting interior minister, has signed a temporary order banning him from leaving Israel. The letter says the authorities are considering forbidding him to leave Israel for another year after that.

>snip

The report raised angry reactions in the Arab community. The Israeli Arab human rights organization Adalah, which represents Shalhat, advised the prime minister and Interior Ministry in writing that this process infringes on Shalhat's right to a fair process, as his reaction to the claims against him were not heard. In addition, Adalah threatened to petition the court against the decision.

Shalhat is a member of the board of directors of I'LAM, the Media Center for Arab Palestinians in Israel. I'LAM said the move against Shalhat, who is a member of the center's board of directors, is part of the infringement on other Arab journalists' rights.

More at;
Haaretz

[Wordie]

1. Curious...

Shin Bet sources said the order was issued due to a concrete concern that Shalhat would take advantage of his trip abroad to contact hostile persons and carry out acts that could harm state security.

I just wonder: are the acts that have the Israelis so concerned ones of what most of us would consider "security threats" or are they media-related.

Shalhat is a member of the board of directors of I'LAM, the Media Center for Arab Palestinians in Israel. I'LAM said the move against Shalhat, who is a member of the center's board of directors, is part of the infringement on other Arab journalists' rights.

Is the free exhange of information now considered by Israel to be a "security threat," too?

I have not heard before of Shalhat. Does anyone else have additional information about him? Are the "hostile persons" persons who are merely hostile to the occupation? Just what kind of "security threat" does Israel say he poses?

Here's one example of his work that I found, an article about the Palestinian Israeli demographic issue:
http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/pages/ShArt.jhtml?itemNo=431611&contrassID=2&subContrassID=20&sbSubContrassID=0&listSrc=Y

The demographic plumb
By Antoine Shalhat
Viewing Israel's Arabs as a demographic problem is not just a profound insult. It is also what prevents us from discussing the damage caused by rapid natural increase.

In the last few years, the issue of demographics has undergone a process of unrestrained stigmatization, no less - and perhaps even more - than any other of the loaded topics in Israel's relationship with its Arab citizens (about one-fifth of its population).

Repeated declarations have been made on this subject by high-ranking ministers, government officials and academics, but especially by those who set the country's meta-policy. Benjamin Netanyahu, minister of finance and perhaps the future prime minister, was certainly not the first to address the subject when he made his recent laconic remarks at the Herzliya Conference, where "strategic plans" for restricting Arab existence were debated. Yet for the state's Arab citizens, this conference became a forum of horrors. Naturally, statements such as Netanyahu's fall on fertile soil and create a counter-stigma within Arab society in all its diversity.

One can no longer shake the profound impression that the State of Israel is holding a demographic plumb, wielding it around-the-clock to gauge the level of the "demographic threat." This is the threat that the Arab citizen, by virtue of being Arab, poses to the state's Jewish character. Unlike the Kinneret, the infamous demographic level is always on the rise, as the dry facts tell us.

He goes on to encourage other Palestinian Israelis to consider the issue on their own, free from any pressure by the rest of Israeli society. Is this man a threat because he encourages Palestinian Israelis to think for themselves? I'd sure like more info on the specific nature of the "threat" he poses. Until I see something about what the real threat is, if such a thing exists, I'm appalled at this attempt to limit the ability of a journalist to communicate.

(Whatever else is going on, it's clear that he's an excellent writer.)