Ref: 150/2003

 On 29 October
2003, the Israeli High Court issued a temporary decision, the second of its
kind in less than a week, stopping the transfer and “assignment of residence”
of Palestinian detainees from the West Bank to the Gaza Strip.  The
Israeli High Court accepted an appeal submitted by PCHR and Ad-Dameer
Association for Human Rights on 23 October 2003.  The appeal to the
Israeli High Court was issued against a decision made on the same day by the
Israeli Military Appeal Committee in Erez (Gaza Strip), where the detainees to
be transferred are currently being held under administrative detention.
 The Appeal Committee’s decision approved a military order to transfer the
18 detainees from the West Bank to “assigned residency” in the Gaza Strip, on
suspicion of their involvement in attacks against Israeli targets. 

 On Friday 24
October 2003, the Israeli High Court issued a similar temporary decision
stopping the transfer of 5 of the 18 Palestinian detainees from the West Bank
to the Gaza Strip, pending a final decision on the case.

 The Israeli High
Court is expected to hold sessions to consider the rest of the detainees’ cases
in the coming days. 

 The Legal Unit of
the PCHR will continue to pursue these cases in an attempt to prevent the
unlawful transfer of the Palestinian civilians concerned.  According to
article 49 and 147 of the Fourth Geneva Convention Relative to the Protection
of Civilian Persons in Time of War (1949) such transfers constitute violations
of international humanitarian law, further clarified as war crimes in article
85 of the First Additional Protocol to the Geneva Conventions.

 PCHR calls upon
Israeli occupying forces to immediately rescind these “assigned
residence” orders and halt all other grave breaches of international
humanitarian law perpetrated by Israeli occupying forces against Palestinian
civilians throughout the Occupied Palestinian Territories.