WORLD : Arab Poet Under House Arrest
JERUSALEM — A judge said poems by an Israeli Arab incited violence and today placed him under house arrest. It was one of the strongest steps against an Arab citizen during the 30-month-old Palestinian uprising.
Israel radio said the judge also ordered that any poetry by Shafik Habib be submitted to the military censor before publication.
Habib, a 49-year-old accountant, said in a telephone interview that police were “trying to set a precedent. We are in a democratic country. There should be freedom of expression.”
He called the action “a very serious move against an Arab intellectual.”
An Arab legislator demanded a parliamentary debate on the action against the poet. “This regime is very weak if they are afraid of words,” legislator Abdul Wahab Darousha said.
Jamal Kawwar, chairman of the Palestinian Israeli Writers’ Union, said Habib is the first Israeli Arab citizen to be arrested for his writings.
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