The committee voted to suspend Arab-Israeli MPs Haneen Zoabi and Basel Ghattas for four months each while MP Jamal Zahalka was suspended for two months.

The move against the trio all of whom hail from the Knesset’s Arab Joint List came after several complaints by Israeli officials -- including Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu -- regarding meetings they held with the families of slain Palestinian "attackers" whose bodies are still being held by Israel.

Zahalka responded to his suspension by accusing Netanyahu of "controlling" the Knesset’s ethics committee.Despite the suspensions the three lawmakers will still be able to vote in the Knesset and various assembly committees.

"The decision to suspend us comes after a months-long Israeli incitement campaign led by Netanyahu" Zahalka told Anadolu Agency."We are paying the political price for our ethical position.But we will continue to demand the immediate release of the 10 bodies [of slain Palestinians] being held by Israel."

For more than four months Israel has continued to hold the bodies of 10 alleged Palestinian attackers from East Jerusalem for what the Jewish state says are "security reasons".

Suspended MP Ghattas for his part described Netanyahu’s policies as "racist".

"Netanyahu promotes a racial incitement policy against Arabs in Israel" Ghattas told Anadolu Agency."Arab MKs [members of the Knesset] will not tolerate this political decision. We will approach international organizations to secure the release [of the slain Palestinians’] bodies."

Zoabi meanwhile said the suspensions revealed the "racist face of Israel’s so-called left parties" most of whose members in the Knesset she pointed out had voted in favor of the decision.

"We are committed to fighting Israeli government discrimination against Arabs" the outspoken lawmaker said. "We will not abandon our people in Jerusalem."

She went on to assert that the suspensions were a political decision that targeted all of Israel’s Arab residents.

"This is a heavy price we’re paying to defend our people's crucial humanitarian rights" Zoabi said.

'National security'

Netanyahu for his part attacked the three Arab MPs saying: "We will not accept a situation in which Israeli lawmakers support the families of Palestinians who kill Israeli civilians."

Israeli opposition leader Issac Herzog meanwhile also denounced the three Arab MPs.

"It is not acceptable that MKs stand for a minute of silence in memory of terrorists" Herzog told Anadolu Agency.

Zakariya al-Qaaq a Palestinian expert on Israeli security affairs told Anadolu Agency that: "When it comes to what Israel considers its ‘national security’ there are no left or right parties."

"The parties in Israel might disagree on economic and social issues but they cannot disagree on their hostility towardArabs" he added.

Al-Qaaq went on to note that all parties in the current Knesset had supported the Israeli government's heavy-handed response to what he described as the current Palestinian "intifada" or "uprising".

Since Oct. 1 of last year 172 Palestinians have been killed either after carrying out alleged attacks on Israelis or during clashes with Israeli forces in occupied East Jerusalem the West Bank or the Gaza Strip.

Over the same period the violence has also left 31 Israelis dead and 310 injured.
By Anees Barghouti