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OCCUPIED JERUSALEM, January 1 (IslamOnline & News Agencies) - Israel's electoral commission barred Arab Israeli parliamentarian Azmi Bishara and his Balad party from running in this month's general elections, a parliamentary source said Wednesday, January 1.

The commission dominated by right-wing nationalists voted 22 to 19 to exclude Bishara from the race on the grounds that he sought the destruction of the Jewish state, Agence France-Presse (AFP) said.

It also decided to bar Balad from being represented in the next parliament by 21 votes to 20, against the recommendation from commission chairman Michael Heshin.

Bishara on Tuesday, December 31,  made a plea to the country's electoral committee to be allowed to run again in January polls, denying having called for the destruction of the Jewish state, officials said.   

He  rejected accusations by the Israeli right and security services that he had called for the destruction of the Israeli state and an armed resistance to Israel's 35-year occupation of Palestinian territory.

"I never called for an armed struggle," he told reporters at parliament, although he did say he upheld the right of people to resist occupation.

Bishara was the second Arab Israeli MP to be excluded by the commission, following Ahmed Tibi, a deputy from another Arab party because he was allegedly linked to "terrorist" organizations. Tibi is to appeal to the Supreme Court.

"It's a scandalous decision which will prevent an authentic representation of the Arab community to present itself (in the elections)," Tibi said.

On the other hand, the commission allowed the candidacy of Baruch Marzel, a former member of the racist Kach party, against the advice of Attorney General Elyakim Rubinstein.

Meanwhile on the ground, Israel abducted nine Palestinians in the West Bank overnight, the Israeli army said in a statement Wednesday.

Three members of the Islamic resistance Jihad were abducted in the El Arroub refugee camp, south of Bethlehem, while other Palestinians were abducted near Ramallah, Bethlehem and Hebron.

Overnight an Israeli army unit was shot at near the Israeli-Egyptian border, but no one was injured, the statement continued, AFP said.

According to another statement, Israeli army destroyed the family home of Imad Muhmad Ahmad Zeyda, a member of Yasser Arafat's Fatah party, south of Nablus overnight.

He carried out a resistance attack in an Israeli restaurant last June which left one person dead and 14 injured.