IDF order will enable mass deportation from West Bank

[Cees Binkhorst]

REPLY TO: D66 at nic.surfnet.nl

Massa deportaties waren ze toch (terecht) tegen?
Nu doen ze het zelf, onder wat voor voorwendsel dan ook.

Groet / Cees

Last update - 14:29 11/04/2010  	 	 	
IDF order will enable mass deportation from West Bank
By Amira Hass
Tags: West Bank, IDF, Israel news

A new military order aimed at preventing infiltration will come into
force this week, enabling the deportation of tens of thousands of
Palestinians from the West Bank, or their indictment on charges carrying
prison terms of up to seven years.

When the order comes into effect, tens of thousands of Palestinians will
automatically become criminal offenders liable to be severely punished.

Given the security authorities' actions over the past decade, the first
Palestinians likely to be targeted under the new rules will be those
whose ID cards bear home addresses in the Gaza Strip - people born in
Gaza and their West Bank-born children - or those born in the West Bank
or abroad who for various reasons lost their residency status. Also
likely to be targeted are foreign-born spouses of Palestinians.

Until now, Israeli civil courts have occasionally prevented the
expulsion of these three groups from the West Bank. The new order,
however, puts them under the sole jurisdiction of Israeli military courts.

The new order defines anyone who enters the West Bank illegally as an
infiltrator, as well as "a person who is present in the area and does
not lawfully hold a permit." The order takes the original 1969
definition of infiltrator to the extreme, as the term originally applied
only to those illegally staying in Israel after having passed through
countries then classified as enemy states - Jordan, Egypt, Lebanon and
Syria.

The order's language is both general and ambiguous, stipulating that the
term infiltrator will also be applied to Palestinian residents of
Jerusalem, citizens of countries with which Israel has friendly ties
(such as the United States) and Israeli citizens, whether Arab or
Jewish. All this depends on the judgment of Israel Defense Forces
commanders in the field.

The Hamoked Center for the Defense of the Individual was the first
Israeli human rights to issue warnings against the order, signed six
months ago by then-commander of IDF forces in Judea and Samaria Area
Gadi Shamni.

Two weeks ago, Hamoked director Dalia Kerstein sent GOC Central Command
Avi Mizrahi a request to delay the order, given "the dramatic change it
causes in relation to the human rights of a tremendous number of people."

According to the provisions, "a person is presumed to be an infiltrator
if he is present in the area without a document or permit which attest
to his lawful presence in the area without reasonable justification."
Such documentation, it says, must be "issued by the commander of IDF
forces in the Judea and Samaria area or someone acting on his behalf."

The instructions, however, are unclear over whether the permits referred
to are those currently in force, or also refer to new permits that
military commanders might issue in the future. The provision are also
unclear about the status of bearers of West Bank residency cards, and
disregards the existence of the Palestinian Authority and the agreements
Israel signed with it and the PLO.

The order stipulates that if a commander discovers that an infiltrator
has recently entered a given area, he "may order his deportation before
72 hours elapse from the time he is served the written deportation
order, provided the infiltrator is deported to the country or area from
whence he infiltrated."

The order also allows for criminal proceedings against suspected
infiltrators that could produce sentences of up to seven years.
Individuals able to prove that they entered the West Bank legally but
without permission to remain there will also be tried, on charges
carrying a maximum sentence of three years. (According to current
Israeli law, illegal residents typically receive one-year sentences.)

The new provision also allow the IDF commander in the area to require
that the infiltrator pay for the cost of his own detention, custody and
expulsion, up to a total of NIS 7,500.

The fear that Palestinians with Gaza addresses will be the first to be
targeted by this order is based on measures that Israel has taken in
recent years to curtail their right to live, work, study or even visit
the West Bank. These measures violated the Oslo Accords.

According to a decision by the West Bank commander that was not backed
by military legislation, since 2007, Palestinians with Gaza addresses
must request a permit to stay in the West Bank. Since 2000, they have
been defined as illegal sojourners if they have Gaza addresses, as if
they were citizens of a foreign state. Many of them have been deported
to Gaza, including those born in the West Bank.

Currently, Palestinians need special permits to enter areas near the
separation fence, even if their homes are there, and Palestinians have
long been barred from the Jordan Valley without special authorization.
Until 2009, East Jerusalemites needed permission to enter Area A,
territory under full PA control.

Another group expected to be particularly harmed by the new rules are
Palestinians who moved to the West Bank under family reunification
provisions, which Israel stopped granting for several years.

In 2007, amid a number of Hamoked petitions and as a goodwill gesture to
Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, tens of thousands of people
received Palestinian residency cards. The PA distributed the cards, but
Israel had exclusive control over who could receive them. Thousands of
Palestinians, however, remained classified as "illegal sojourners,"
including many who are not citizens of any other country.

The new order is the latest step by the Israeli government in recent
years to require permits that limit the freedom of movement and
residency previously conferred by Palestinian ID cards. The new
regulations are particularly sweeping, allowing for criminal measures
and the mass expulsion of people from their homes.

The IDF Spokesman's Office said in response, "The amendments to the
order on preventing infiltration, signed by GOC Central Command, were
issued as part of a series of manifests, orders and appointments in
Judea and Samaria, in Hebrew and Arabic as required, and will be posted
in the offices of the Civil Administration and military courts' defense
attorneys in Judea and Samaria. The IDF is ready to implement the order,
which is not intended to apply to Israelis, but to illegal sojourners in
Judea and Samaria."

**********
Dit bericht is verzonden via de informele D66 discussielijst (D66 at nic.surfnet.nl).
Aanmelden: stuur een email naar LISTSERV at nic.surfnet.nl met in het tekstveld alleen: SUBSCRIBE D66 uwvoornaam uwachternaam
Afmelden: stuur een email naar LISTSERV at nic.surfnet.nl met in het tekstveld alleen: SIGNOFF D66
Het on-line archief is te vinden op: http://listserv.surfnet.nl/archives/d66.html
**********