The first deputy speaker of the Palestinian Legislative Council, Ahmad Bahar, accused Israel on Sunday of seeking to silence the Palestinian leaders through the arrest campaigns conducted against them in the West Bank.

      In a protest organized by the Change and Reform bloc in solidarity with MP Samira Halaiqa, who was arrested by Israeli occupation forces, Bahar said, “Israel understands only the language of force,” calling on the Palestinian resistance factions to work to liberate the Palestinian prisoners.

     For his part, MP Mahmoud al-Zahar called on the Palestinian factions to unite for the sake of defending the rights of Palestinian women infringed by the Israeli occupation. He also condemned the international organizations’ silence toward the Israeli crimes against the Palestinian people.

     In the same context, MP Mushir al-Masri stressed that the Israeli occupation had crossed all red lines by arresting MP Samira Halaiqa. He said the Israeli act came in absolute “disregard to the democracy which the world is advocating.”

     Masri held Israel responsible for the life of the MP Halaiqa and all prisoners in Israeli jails, pointing out that such Israeli acts fell in line with the state-terrorism pursued by Israel.