Author: ISM Media Group

Petition Challenges Israel’s practice of barring foreign passport holders from the Israeli occupied Palestinian territory

Campaign for Right of Entry, December 12th

The Jerusalem Legal Aid Center (JLAC), on December 11, petitioned the Israeli Civil Administration and the Ministry of Interior (MoI) to reinstate the processing of visitor permit renewal requests and to reinstate those whose permits have lapsed. JLAC attorney, Sliman Shahin, presented the petition on behalf of spouses and children of Palestinians who submitted their applications in 2006 and whose permits subsequently expired during processing, were stamped “last permit”, were not renewed, or whose holders are now forced to overstay their three-month permit.

On November 19, all 100 renewal requests returned to the Palestinian MoI, were either rejected or marked as ‘last permit’. Some were extended as late as the end of December, while others expired during processing. Israel has refused to process any new permit renewal applications since then, leaving hundreds of people faced with the prospect of overstaying their permits or exiting the country so as to qualify for a visitor’s permit renewal, and risking being denied reentry.

For instance, Soha N. and her Palestinain husband live in Beit Jala with their two children, ages 6 and 8 years old. Soha and the children are French citizens. Because the Israeli authorities refuse to issue them residency, they have been renewing their permits every three months. Soha’s “last permit” expires December 25th. However, Israeli authorities required her two children to leave by December 4th. The family may be forced to relocate abroad in order to stay together, as the children are now considered “illegal” after overstaying their visas. Shlomo Dror, spokesperson for the Israeli Civil Administration said that those foreign passport holders with family in the oPt who stay illegally in the country would have to expect “tough consequences.”

Since 2000, Israel has frozen residency permits for Palestinian family unification. Foreign family members must routinely renew their visitor permits every three months following Israeli procedures. There are now 120,000 family unification applications that Israel is refusing to process, affecting an estimated 500,000 people who are now threatened with departure from the oPt in order to keep their families together. The petition by JLAC asks Israeli authorities to continue processing permit renewal requests and to reinstate those whose permits expired so that they are not threatened with arrest and deportation.

“This petition by JLAC is a step toward challenging Israel’s racist policies against Palestinian family reunification. Israel is closing the doors on families who want to stay legally. Denying residency, even through a renewable 3-month visitor permit, is a form of de facto deportation designed to create a demographic change in the oPt by targeting the most vulnerable segment of Palestinian society and forcing them to leave”, said Basil Ayish, a spokesperson from the Campaign for the Right of Entry/Re-Entry to the oPt.

Contact: Basil Ayish Coordinator, Media Committee
(c) +970-(0)59-817-3953 (email) info@righttoenter.ps

Two Jerusalem House Demolitions

by John, December 11th

Last night human rights workers learned that there were going to be demolitions of houses in the Jerusalem district today so we travelled to Al ‘Isawiya. When we arrived we found that the house had already been destroyed and that the bulldozer had come at 5am. The father of the family was there but the children and mother were all ‘sick’ – stressed by the events of the day. This is the second time the house has been knocked down – they were told if they paid $10,000-20,000 it may be saved but of course they do not have that money. They had rebuilt it after the last demolition simply because they had nowhere else to go.

This family will now move into another house next door which other members of their extended family live in – the reason they had moved out is because there were too many to fit in this house – now 6 people will have to move into a house with a similar number. The space available to them is pretty small as it was, so this is going to make the situation even worse. Luckily they had enough time to retrieve almost all their belongings before the house was knocked down.

HRWs were also present later at a house on the Mount of Olives while the demolition took place, but police would not let internationals anywhere near because of ‘orders’. When questioned, one of the soldiers pushed a journalist for no real reason, only a small push, but still it is unacceptable as he was not trying to pass the soldier at the time, simply trying to ascertain why he was not allowed past. One police officer said that before this house, they demolished a Jewish house and were going onto another Jewish house, in fact a lot of the houses they knock down are Jewish. Of course she was vague on details and we replied we had never heard of this – one person in the group has researched this extensively, but she said see had seen different research. They then said we can take pictures from where we were, although the house could not be seen from this position.

Eventually some got onto the roofs of other properties but most of it was over. The soldiers and police who were there were all patting each other on the back and shaking hands – job done. The children were there and some of the grown men had tears in their eyes.

Other houses in this area have been bulldozed recently as well, and some residents seem worried that still more houses might be next. This month has seen a large number of properties bulldozed in the West Bank, and with many other properties threatened, more are likely in the near future. Since the start of 2004 234, and so far this year 36 Palestinian houses have been demolished in Jerusalem alone.

A family home in Walaja, west of Bethlehem, was destroyed for the third time today.

Travel Warning – Bethlehem & Jerusalem, Occupied Palestine

Campaign for Right of Entry, December 10th

This Travel Warning is being issued to update information on the general security environment in Israel, Jerusalem, the West Bank, and the Gaza Strip, and to reiterate threats to foreign nationals, especially American citizens. Although the situation in Israel is seemingly calm, the fact of the matter remains that Israel continues to aggressively violate International Humanitarian and Human Rights Laws daily. A disconcerting development is the Israeli practice of denying entry of Palestinian Christians and Muslims to the Holy Land; embodying
religious discrimination during the high holy season. As Palestinians, we have always looked forward to your being with us during Christmas, Easter and other holiday feasts. In the past, it has been a time to welcome you into our land, our churches, our mosques, and our homes, despite the troubled times we have witnessed throughout the decades.

In order to visit any of the Holy sites you must pass through an Israeli-controlled point of entry (airport or bridge), since Israel controls all access to the Israeli occupied Palestinian territory,
where Bethlehem and Jerusalem, the Church of the Nativity and Holy Sepulcher are located. Since March of this year, an extraordinary number of foreigners have been denied entry through Israeli ports. Many of these foreign nationals have been turned away at the airport or
bridges and sent back to their country of residence or to Jordan. The Israeli authorities seldom give a reason for barring foreign tourists, so people find themselves spending money to fly into the Israeli airport or come to the Israeli-controlled border crossings not knowing that they may be turned away without having the opportunity to visit the Holy Land or visit their friends and families.

If this Israeli policy is allowed to continue it can literally empty Palestine of another half a million Palestinians. Given that four decades of Israeli occupation have already successfully reduced the Christian population in Bethlehem from 15% to less than 2%, it becomes clear that Israel’s goal is to reduce the entire Palestinian population to insignificant numbers.

We would like to welcome you to Bethlehem in occupied Palestine this Christmas season. However, to avoid spending money unnecessarily and facing a humiliating experience, we recommend that you call the Israeli Embassy or Consulate nearest you before embarking on your trip this Christmas season. Please ask the Embassy or Consulate if you will be able to pass through the airport or via one of the bridges from Jordan in order to reach Bethlehem, particularly given the fact that thousands who are trying to reach the Israeli occupied Palestinian territory are being turned back.

While speaking to the Israeli Embassy officials, confirm that Palestinians – Muslims and Christians – have not been allowed to worship in their holy places for many years. In fact, no Palestinians from the West Bank and Gaza have been allowed to enter Jerusalem without Israeli military permission since 1993 and very few are granted permits to enter Jerusalem, whether for worship during Lent, Advent or Ramadan.

The building of the illegal Israeli Separation Wall (which is mostly built on Palestinian lands acquired by force 1967) has made it even more difficult for Palestinians and internationals to travel to Jerusalem and Bethlehem. The Separation Wall has not been built for security reasons, but rather to separate people from one another, from their livelihood, from their places of worship, and from their future. Walls do not create the conditions for peace with justice.
Historically, walls separate and divide and bring widespread despair, which we are witnessing now.

Although the U.S. State Department’s Travel Advisory for this same area “urges U.S. citizens to defer travel to the West Bank and to avoid all travel to the Gaza Strip,” we would ask that you rather not despair and actively attempt to join us in Bethlehem and Jerusalem this Christmas.
If we acknowledge the international community’s concurrence to allow Israel to get away with denying the world’s citizens the right to worship and blatant, daily violations of human rights, then we would all be accomplices to the war crimes being committed against Palestinians.

Thus, we hope to see you all this Christmas season. Please contact us when you are here so we visit and worship with you. You may contact us either via email at info@righttoenter.ps or mobile at 059-817-3953.

If you cannot be with us, then please keep Bethlehem, Jerusalem and
Palestinians in your prayers and actions this holiday season.

Campaign for the Right of Entry/Re- Entry to the Occupied Palestinian
Territory(oPt)

Media Contact:
Mr. Basil Ayish
Coordinator, Media Committee
(c) +970-(0)59-817-3953
(e)i…@righttoenter.ps
(w) www.righttoenter.ps

Amnesty International Secretary-General visits Tel Rumeida

Ma’an News: Amnesty International’s secretary-general visits Hebron, meets Old City family besieged by settlers

December 7th,

The secretary-general of Amnesty International is currently in the occupied Palestinian territories on a special tour to assess the human rights situation in light of the current situation. On Wednesday, the secretary-general, Irene Khan, visited the ancient holy city of Hebron, situated in the south of the occupied West Bank, and the site of much friction between the native Palestinian population and the Israeli Jewish settler population, who are doing everything in their power to push the Palestinians out.

Mrs Khan toured the old city of Hebron, where much of the friction occurs, and the Ibrahimi Mosque where she prayed. The Ibrahimi mosque, or the Cave of the Patriarchs, is the burial spot of Abraham and many other early prophets and is therefore considered holy by all three monotheistic faiths. As a result, the building is split in two: one side is a mosque and one side is a synagogue. The whole complex is controlled by the Israeli military and the soldiers decide who may enter through a series of checkpoints.

The Israeli forces prevented Khan’s companions and media people from entering the mosque with her. They also forbade any photographic shots to be taken during her visit, claiming that the area was a closed military zone.

Khan then toured the streets of the old city where she faced harassment from the Jewish settlers. She then visited the family of Hanna Abu Haikal in their home where she was briefed by the family members about the harassments, bribes and threats that they face from the settlers. They told her that the Israelis paid them $20 million to leave the house, but they refuse to sell the house.

The Abu Haikal family home is located in the middle of many Israeli settlers’ houses. As a consequence, the family suffers harshly. The family told Khan that often during the night, the Israeli settlers break into the house.

When Khan was asked by Ma’an about what her organization can do to help this family, she replied that Amnesty International continues to help by reporting such incidents and revealing such Israeli violations, which she affirmed occur not only against this family but against dozens of Palestinian families. She said that Amnesty International aims to help Palestinians who live adjacent to the Israeli settlements and to present their case to the international community.

Earlier on Wednesday, Khan had visited the southern Israeli town of Sderot that has been hit by numerous crudely-made Palestinian projectiles emanating from the northern Gaza Strip. Khan will also spend a day in the Gaza Strip, visiting Beit Hanoun and other localities badly hit by Israel’s military machinery. She will also meet with various Israeli and Palestinian civil society representatives and members of the respective leaderships during her six-day tour.

Palestine News Network: “Settlements further encroaching into Tubas; major loss imminent”

by Ali Samoudi, December 10th

The northern West Bank’s Tubas is under imminent threat by Israeli settlers who have long had their eye on the Palestinian town’s agricultural lands.

The settlements are already encroaching onto the land with continual expansion. One of the leaders of the local community said that all facts indicate that there are new attempts to expand the settlements by confiscating large tracts of remaining farm land.

It is clear, as reported by the local community, that the Israeli policy is to eliminate any Palestinian presence in the Jordan Valley area, including confiscating the fertile land, building the Wall, and expanding existing settlements while building new ones.

Resident Azmi Abu Al Wafa said that the “looting and confiscation of adjacent lands” began in 1969 and that Israeli forces are looking to “loot the remainder thereof.” He said that farmers have endured years of harassment by the settlers and soldiers. Resident Ra’ed Suleiman said that settlers closed-off his land to him entirely, despite its distance from the settlements.

The numbers of loss in dunams of land are staggering and rising. Israeli forces issued home demolition orders and are overtaking the water supply and some of the most fertile lands. In 1983, 1984 and 1986 Israeli settlements took more of Tubas. Suleiman said that Israeli policy is removing residents from the land one decade at a time.