Tag: Civil rights

East Jerusalem: military checkpoints prevent Palestinians from entering the Old City and Al-Aqsa

9 October 2009

During the week leading up to 9 October, the Old City of Jerusalem and particularly the Muslim Quarter, were practically under siege and strict control of the Israeli armed forces. For the whole week there was a checkpoint at Damascus Gate which prevented Palestinian men from entering the Old City.

Damascus Gate is the main entrance to the Old City of Jerusalem, to the Muslim Quarter and the souq (market) where many Palestinians live and do business daily. Entering the Old City from Damascus Gate also leads directly to the Al-Aqsa Mosque the third holiest place in Islam. Throughout the week the Israeli border police also guarded the Muslim Quarter from atop its ancient walls and, in addition, it was not permitted to Palestinians and tourists to enter into the Haram al-Sharif where the Dome of the Rock and the Al-Aqsa Mosques are. ‘The situation is very tense in there’ I am told by an Israeli policeman ‘not good for tourists’. On Friday morning the atmosphere became truly tense.

The army’s helicopters had been circling overhead from around 7 am. Multiple checkpoints had been set up outside the Old City, including one in the middle of Nablus Road, a major artery leading to the bus station to and from the West Bank. At this checkpoint the Israeli police stopped any non-white man (including children and the elderly), but let women and white men go through without a second glance. Racial profiling continues and becomes stricter as we near the heart of the Old City. At Damascus Gate the Israeli regular police and the border police, fully armed, guarded the barricades and prevented any non-white male under the age of 45 from entering. The rules are unclear, however: in some cases it is under the age of 45 in some other cases under the age of 50. Again, women, white males and Israeli citizens go through with minor or no questioning.

Inside the Old City entrance to the Haram al-Sharif was forbidden to both tourist and non-white young males for Friday and Saturday, we are told this by an Israeli policeman. There are flying checkpoints scattered around the Old City, including one in front of the popular hotel, the Austrian Hospice. All access points to the Al-Aqsa had a heavily guarded checkpoint, manned by the regular police, border police and the army. People of the Jewish faith and with an Israeli citizenship can go into the mosque, however. Many of them are dressed in very traditional clothing and have been patrolling the Old City for several days. Armed men stand at the top of staircases and of the numerous steep alleyways of the Old City, they also stand on roofs and on the walls’ barbican.

The forces patrolling the Old City seem of four kinds: the regular police, the army, the border police and a group dressed in a fully black uniform. All ‘security’ forces in the streets and at the checkpoints carry machine guns, many policemen also carry tear gas. When it was coming up to mid-day prayer some shops opened around the souq simply to play the call to prayer as loud as possible. The call to prayer also came from the Al-Aqsa in a voice broken by despair.

Across the street from Damascus Gate the crowds of banished men gather, there are hundreds of them and they sit or kneel on the ground to pray, many of them use flattened cardboard boxes in place of the prayer rug. The spectacle is devastating. The men pour in the street and they move just slightly, without interrupting their prayer, when garbage trucks and buses drive by. Ten feet away, surrounding the crowd, stand the border police, heavily armed, many are wearing helmets and point their gun at the crowd under the disbelieving eyes of many internationals. Further along the outside walls of the Old City, smaller crowds of men gather outside Herod’s Gate and they pray facing the direction of their shrine.

It is difficult for us to get into Herod’s Gate as the Israeli police cannot understand why internationals would want to go into the Muslim Quarter, but we manage to pass through. In front of one of the checkpoints outside the Mosque, men pray in silence listening to the distant voice of the Imam. Soldiers stand in front of them with their guns, the men do not seem to notice them and bow three times at the end of their prayer in the direction of the Mosque. The prayer is over, soldiers appear from every corner and march towards the checkpoints, rushing the men away in order to prevent loitering. The atmosphere in the souq is demoralised, the men walk in silence away from their shrine with their prayer rugs over their shoulders.

This whole operation seems to have been done to provoke a violent reaction from the Palestinians and to justify the occupation in the eyes of the international community while peace negotiations are going on. But Friday 9 October passed peacefully in Jerusalem, with Palestinians praying in the streets at the prescribed times as many internationals watched in disbelief.

Israel to close West Bank for Yom Kippur

Ma’an News

The Israeli military announced a closure of the West Bank beginning at midnight on Saturday, lasting until midnight on Monday, which is the Jewish holy day Yom Kippur.

Under ordinary circumstances, most Palestinians from the West Bank are barred from entering Jerusalem or crossing into Israel. The closure means that even those with special permits to work or study in Jerusalem or the interior of Israel will be confined to the West Bank.

The Israeli army said that during the closure Palestinians will be allowed to leave only in exceptional medical and humanitarian cases.

Observant Jews fast for 24 hours on Yom Kippur, the Day of Atonement.

How does Israel decide who gets a visa to Ramallah?

Amira Hass | Ha’aretz

8 September 2009

Sven Ouzman, a 39-year-old archaeologist from South Africa, violated the terms of his “Palestinian Authority only” visa six times, when unintentionally and for lack of choice, he drove on roads under full Israeli control, between Palestinian Authority enclaves in the West Bank.

Ouzman, who was attending a conference of the World Archaeological Congress in Ramallah last month, was late for a lecture he was scheduled to deliver on the evening of August 9. He had arrived at the Allenby Bridge crossing on Saturday morning, August 8, after having passed through passport control on the Jordanian side and entering the Israeli-controlled area, but the Israel Airport Authority employees demanded he come back the next day. When he asked them why, “they were very rude and would not reply,” Ouzman said this week by phone from South Africa.

Acquaintences later told him that such arbitrariness is standard on the Israeli side. Ouzman returned to Amman for the night. In the morning, he spent about two hours on the Jordanian side and about another nine hours on the Israeli side. “Then began a long process, go there, come here, lots of questions I found offensive, and a lot of waiting, especially waiting,” Ouzman said.

Ouzman, is on the faculty of the ethnography and archaeology department of Pretoria University, and also teaches archaeology in prisons. He said that at the Allenby Bridge crossing he recalled an anthropological lesson he learned from teaching in prison, where the authorities intentionally break the monotony and shout at prisoners to disorient them. He suggested that this is similar to what he encountered at the Israeli-controlled border.

“They are all very young. You wonder what training they got; you can’t get angry at them, they just obey orders,” Ouzman said.

At one point, Ouzman showed officials at the Allenby Bridge his invitation to the archaeology conference, and gave them the phone number of one of the organizers, Adel Yahya from Ramallah. The clerks called Yahya, and asked for the list of conference participants. Ten guest lecturers (out of about 20) had come through Allenby, three of whom were Turkish citizens. Two of the Turkish nationals were refused entry, Yahya said, and the third received a “Palestinian Authority only” visa. A Portuguese guest lecturer also received a “Palestinian Authority only” stamp. These two, along with Ouzman, could not participate in the tour in Silwan, Jerusalem, guided by the archaeologist Dr. Rafi Greenberg.

Haaretz’s query as to why some visitors receive regular visas, while others receive “Palestinian Authority only” stamps, went unanswered.

Ouzman shortened his trip by two days due to his restrictive visa. However, in some cases, the damage is much greater: the Palestinian Authority-only visa ruined the research plans for L., a British scholar who had spent time at Bir Zeit University over the summer.

L. received a one-day visa for Israel from the Civil Administration, and set up a meeting at the Interior Ministry in Jerusalem to request a regular visa. “Once [the Interior Ministry official] noticed the visa on my passport saying ‘Palestinian Authority only,’ she screamed that I shouldn’t be in Israel and yelled at me for entering without a visa. I tried to explain that this is why we are here, and that I have work to do in Israel as well as the West Bank. She didn’t listen, and said angrily that I have to leave and go back to the West Bank.”

L. told the clerk he had a one-day visa, and that he comes to the country at least twice a year and always received a regular visa. L. said the clerk spoke to someone over the phone, still sounding very angry.

“Then she told me that [her superior] said I shouldn’t be in Israel because I don’t have the proper visa, and that if I insisted on applying for a full visa at the ministry I could do so but that I would be denied the visa on the spot,” L. said.

The Interior Ministry said it does not have representatives at the Allenby Bridge crossing.

The Israel Airports Authority said, “Israel Airports Authority employees fulfill their function in keeping with directives while maintaining the dignity of the travelers and insuring a proper level of service. The authority supervises the employees by means of a variety of methods. Stamps are given by border supervisors only (who are not authority employees).”

The Negotiation Support Unit, which advises the PLO’s Negotiations Affairs Department, prepared an opinion paper on the Israeli visa policy, which was sent to consulates and foreign missions. The opinion stated: “Third states whose nationals are subjected to such illegal policies have an obligation to object once the facts are made known to them and their nationals ask them to respond or to take action. Choosing not to object would imply third states’ acceptance of Israel’s unlawful acts, in violation of third states’ duty of non-recognition [of these acts.]”

U.S. blasts Israeli restrictions on American travelers in West Bank

Barak Ravid, Amira Hass & Natasha Mozgovaya ¦ Ha’aretz

20 August 2009

The United States has harshly criticized new Israeli restrictions placed on foreign nationals entering the West Bank via the Allenby Bridge, calling the new regulations ‘unacceptable’. A report on the restrictions appeared in Haaretz last week.

Earlier this week, a senior official at the U.S. Embassy in Tel Aviv met with the head of the Foreign Ministry’s consular division, Yigal Tzarfati, for clarifications on the new procedure, by which passports are stamped at the bridge with a directive limiting the bearer to areas of the Palestinian Authority only.

The U.S. message was that such a procedure is harmful to U.S. citizens who come to the Palestinian Authority.

At the meeting in Jerusalem, U.S. diplomats asked Tzarfati what the reason was for the restrictions, and a statement issued yesterday by the State Department said that “the United States expects that all American citizens be treated equally, regardless of their national origin or other citizenship.”

The statement added, “we have let the government of Israel know that these restrictions unfairly impact Palestinian and Arab-American travelers, and are not acceptable.”

In addition to its critical public statement, on August 14 the U.S. State
Department renewed its travel advisory to Israel and the Palestinian
Authority, drawing the attention of American travelers to Israel and the West Bank to the new procedure at the Allenby Bridge.

For some three months, border control officials at the Allenby Bridge have been stamping visitors’ passports with a visa and the additional words “Palestinian Authority only.” Those who have received the stamp are mainly citizens of countries that have diplomatic relations with Israel, from Europe and the United States, and are mainly those who have family in the West Bank, work or study there.

At the same time, Interior Ministry officials at the borders advise these
people not to come to Israel through Ben-Gurion International Airport or the Sheikh Hussein Bridge crossing with Jordan near Beit She’an, rather only through the Allenby Bridge, frequently after they had been refused entry through the other entry points.

Meanwhile, other foreign nationals arriving at Ben-Gurion airport have
reportedly been asked to sign a pledge that they will not enter Palestinian Authority territory without the approval of the Coordinator of Government Activities in the Territories.

Senior Foreign Ministry officials said that the Interior Ministry is behind the new procedures, and the Foreign Ministry does not support it and does not understand its logic. “It is unclear what good it is and how it can be enforced,” a Foreign Ministry official said. “All it does is damage Israel’s image in its foreign relations,” the official added.

Haaretz has learned that a number of European embassies are planning to
approach the Foreign Ministry to protest and seek clarifications.

The Oslo Accords state that citizens of countries with diplomatic ties with Israel can enter the West Bank and the Gaza Strip with their Israeli visa and a valid passport.

According to Interior Ministry spokeswoman Sabine Haddad, the procedure is based on a decision by the interior minister and the defense minister from 2006 that “any foreign national who wants to enter the Palestinian Authority must have a permit issued by the army, and entry is permitted only into PA territory.”

Haddad refused Haaretz’s request for a copy of the text of this decision.

Instructions the coordinator of government activities sent to diplomats at the time, which were based on the decision, do not prevent entry to Israel, but determine that foreign nationals must request the approval of “the military commander” to enter the West Bank and Gaza Strip. The Palestinian Authority is not mentioned as one of the categories in these instructions. In the past three years, no procedure has been enacted to receive the “military commander’s approval.”

Israel toughens entry for foreigners with West Bank ties

Amira Hass | Ha’aretz

13 August 2009

Israel has recently been putting up more obstacles for foreign nationals who enter the country if they have family, work, business or academic ties in the West Bank. It now restricts their movements to “the Palestinian Authority only.” The people concerned are citizens of countries that have diplomatic ties with Israel, mainly Western countries.

In imposing such restrictions, Israel is in breach of the Oslo Accords.

For about the last three months, border control officials at the Allenby Bridge have been stamping visitors’ passports with a visa and the additional words “Palestinian Authority only.” Officials from the Coordinator of Government Activities in the Territories (COGAT), who are also present at the Allenby crossing, have in some cases told visitors that they must apply to the Civil Administration for a permit to leave the West Bank and enter Israel.

According to Interior Ministry spokeswoman Sabine Haddad, the same procedure also exists at Ben-Gurion International Airport, though Haaretz has not encountered any such cases. However, Interior Ministry officials at the airport have been known to require foreign nationals to sign a pledge that they will not enter the PA without permission from COGAT.

Officials have also warned tourists who want to visit the West Bank that the next time, they should enter via the Allenby Bridge. Haddad confirmed that anyone “entering Palestinian Authority territory should go via the Allenby Bridge.”

But the practice of restricting visitors to the PA only has not yet been applied to all visitors entering the country via the Allenby Bridge. Haddad declined to answer Haaretz’s question as to why this rule was being applied selectively and who decides on its application.

The people on whom travel restrictions have been imposed, and with whom Haaretz has spoken, include businesspeople and foreign investors, people with relatives in the West Bank, university faculty, and international development and welfare workers. All are citizens of Western countries.

“PA territory” comprises the 40 percent of the West Bank (Areas A and B) over which the PA has civilian authority. These areas are enclaves interspersed throughout Area C, which is under full Israeli control. Theoretically, therefore, these tourists may not leave one enclave for another, enter the Jordan Valley, or cross to the other side of the separation fence.

When asked whether the limitation to the “PA only” indeed referred to Areas A and B, Haddad said: “Because this issue involves an army permit, the question must be referred to the army.” The Israel Defense Forces Spokesman said the question must be referred to the Defense Ministry. A Defense Ministry spokesman initially said this question and others must be referred to COGAT, while COGAT’s spokesman said that “most of the questions” should be referred to the Interior Ministry. On Monday night, Haaretz was told that COGAT’s response would be included in the Defense Ministry’s response. However, no such response had been received by press time.

Another question that thus remains unanswered is whether legal experts in the interior and defense ministries are aware of the fact that the travel restrictions Israel is imposing are a violation of the 1995 Interim Agreement, also known as Oslo-2. The agreement states that citizens of countries that have diplomatic ties with Israel may enter the West Bank and the Gaza Strip on their Israeli visa and a valid passport.

According to Interior Ministry spokeswoman Haddad, the new procedure is based on “a 2006 decision by the interior minister and the defense minister [Roni Bar-On and Amir Peretz, respectively] that any foreign national who wants to enter the Palestinian Authority must have a permit from the army, and entry is permitted only into PA territory.” But Haddad refused Haaretz’s request for a copy of the text of the decision, and a similar request to Defense Ministry spokesman Shlomo Dror received no response at all.

In early 2006, Israel annuled a rule that had been in place for decades whereby foreign nationals – whether of Palestinian origin or not – were permitted to visit, live and work in the territories based on tourist visas that they renewed every three months. Thereafter, Israel began preventing the entry of thousands of people, including businesspeople, investors, students, university faculty and spouses of Palestinians.

Several of these people launched an international public campaign against the restrictions. Foreign embassies protested, and America’s then-secretary of state, Condoleezza Rice, also voiced criticism.

As a result of the pressure, the interior and defense ministers canceled the restrictions in December 2006, and GOGAT was told to revise the procedures. However, both the text of the procedures that was sent to the PA on December 28, 2006 and a letter the Foreign Ministry sent to foreign embassies and consulates on March 5, 2007 revealed that Israel had created a new restriction: Entry to the West Bank was henceforth conditioned on “the military commander’s consent … the foreign national will be required to keep the consent form with his/her passport.”

In contrast to Haddad’s response, however, the text states that the area in question is “the West Bank,” not “PA territory.” And neither of these documents states that entry to Israel is prohibited or requires additional bureaucratic steps.

The new procedure effectively places many tourists and visitors under closure and discriminates against them compared to their compatriots who do not have relations with the Palestinian community and whose main destination is not the West Bank. (Israel has kept the number of foreign nationals it allows into Gaza to a minimum since the August 2005 disengagement.) Closure has been the permanent state of affairs in the occupied territories since January 1991, when Israel forbade Palestinians to enter its territory without a permit from the Civil Administration.