Jailed MP Aziz Dweik 'rejects exile offer'

Jailed Hamas MP Aziz Dweik on Thursday rejected an Israeli proposal to release him to exile, a prisoners group said. Dweik, speaker of the Palestinian Legislative Council, is being held in Ofer prison in administrative detention, without charge or trial. Israel offered to release him on condition he agreed to spend two years in exile, said Foad al-Khafsh, head of the Ahrar Center for Prisoners Studies and Human Rights. Dweik said he would prefer to stay in jail, al-Khafsh told Ma'an. Al--Khafsh called on the Palestinian Authority and international rights organizations to intervene in Israel's detention of Palestinian lawmakers. Some 27 Palestinian MPs are held in Israeli jails, 24 of them without charge or trial.