By JPOST.COM STAFFtaleb a-sanaa 248.88 AJ(photo credit: Ariel Jerozolimski )
A verbal spat erupted Monday afternoon at the Knesset's Constitution, Law and Justice Committee when MK Taleb a-Sanaa (United Arab List-Ta'al) called settlers "a malignant tumor," setting off a flurry of furious reactions from the assembled MKs.
The committee had convened on Monday morning to discuss the 10-month moratorium on settlement construction, its implications and its possible negative effects on the civil rights of West Bank residents.
At the start of the meeting, Sanaa alleged that settlers were "undermining the government and High Court rulings and attending Knesset sessions only to instill terror," later accusing settler MKs of conducting themselves "as though the Knesset were the Council of Jewish Communities of Judea, Samaria and the Gaza Strip."
He also vehemently rejected "any connection" between the settlers and civil rights.
Calling the settlers "unjustifiable vermin," Sanaa stated that Jewish West Bank residents kept themselves occupied by "chasing and abusing" others. "According to international law, they cannot be there [in the West Bank]. They are a malignant tumor," he concluded.
Committee chairman MK David Rotem (Israel Beiteinu) irately replied, "If the settlers are a malignant tumor in the body of the Palestinian state, we hope the tumors will grow until the Palestinian state ceases to exist."
MK Michael Ben-Ari (National Union) consequently accused Sanaa of incitement against settlers.
