These new military amendments adopted by Israel to an order that dates back to 1969, represent a very dangerous measure from the perspectives of both content and timing”.
With these words during yesterday’s press conference Dr Mustafa Barghouthi condemned the new military order issued by Israeli authorities, which demands that all residents of the West Bank including those who were born there obtain an Israeli issued permit.
“Entering the area “unlawfully” means somebody who is in the area without any order issued by the military governor of the area” underlined lawyer Raja Shahadeh, who explained the legal issues connected with the definition of “infiltrator”. Under new amendments the term implies “that the person who has been accused of being an “infiltrator” is automatically considered guilty and must prove his innocence”.
Dr Barghouthi, who compared the military orders to the laws in effect preventing Palestinians from returning to their lands where they lived before 1948, interpreted these new measures as a preparatory act of another wave of ethnic cleansing in the occupied Palestinian territory, affecting 80.000 Palestinians who have been living in the West Bank for decades.
“These measures will also consolidate a system of apartheid, a system of cantonisation of Palestinian regions and cities, transforming the Palestinian presence into a series of bantustans isolated one from each other”, he said. He added that this act will intensify the separation between West Bank and Gaza and between occupied Jerusalem and the rest of the occupied territory.
He then spoke at length to the conference on the subject:
By defining any Palestinian as an “infiltrator” and consequently allowing a mass deportation of Palestinians from the West Bank, Israel is acting in contradiction to the Geneva Convention and to human rights, treating residents of Gaza or those have their descendants in Gaza as committing a crime, whilst they are simply living in their own country.
This act also represents a violation of the Oslo agreements, consolidating the idea that Israel is still militarily governing all of the occupied territory, including areas A, B, C. Israel is de facto declaring that the Palestinian Authority structures have no validity on the ground.
A system of apartheid
“This military order is an act that aims at blocking the daily work of many people whose presence is important for the West Bank, not only the international solidarity activists, but also experts, professionals and aid workers in several NGOs, all of which operate in the Palestinian territory.
It will be used by Israel to arrest Palestinians who are active in the peaceful non-violent resistance, participating in popular protests against the Separation Wall and the settlements expansion: if they enter areas which have been declared closed military zones, the Israeli Army will have the power to arrest demonstrators. If this occurs, activists may be sentenced and imprisoned for up to seven yeas or deported from the West Bank. Any Palestinian travelling to the JordanValley or the so-called area C, which covers 60% of the whole West Bank, may be declared an “infiltrator” and could be arrested.
Israel continues to conduct one violation after another, implementing a complex plan of confiscation of land, imposing a de facto apartheid system regardless of negotiations. It is part of the implementation of a network of policies which aim to liquidate the Palestinian legitimacy on East Jerusalem, disavow the Palestinian refugees’ right to return, and deny the right of Palestinians to choose where to live, isolating the Palestinian presence on 60% of the West Bank.
It is a colonization strategy that occurs daily through settlement expansion, the construction of the wall and of checkpoints, separation and segregation through a system of roads, and the application of a series of unjust laws.
Ironically, this new measure occurs whilst the international community is trying to revive the so called peace process, representing an insult to all the international community, the EU and USA administration.
A strategic resistance
In our opinion the Palestinian Authority should reconsider completely the policy of security agreed with the coordination of Israel, and consider the possibility of issuing IDs without the control of Israeli authorities. Secondly, we call on the Palestinian Authority and on all the factions, parties and representatives of the PalestinianTerritory to adopt the Boycott, Divestments and Sanctions strategies and principles, and treat the Israeli government as the South African was treated at one point in time.
The response to this additional policy carried out by Israel requires the development of a joint mobilisation by the international community, collective action in order to protect 80,000 Palestinians and their families who will now be subjected to this additional measure of ethnic cleansing and deportation.
Economic pressure as a powerful tool
Finally we urge the OECD’s 30 members states not to guarantee Israel’s admission in the organisation. Welcoming Israel as a member in the OECD, represents not only granting it practical economic benefits but also demonstrating that the international community is accepting its questionable and reprehensible behavior, which violates the principles of the OECD.
As part of its application membership, Israel submitted information to the OECD providing data which include statistical figures related to occupied areas such Golan Height, East Jerusalem and all the illegal settlements in the West Bank: That means declaring that its economical territory includes all these illegally annexed and occupied areas, contravening OECD principles and policy. We demand that the OECD’s members not to approve Israel’s membership, which will undermine the credibility of the EU and the international community, encouraging Israel’s impunity.