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Press Release
By accepting the deportation of two Palestinians from the West Bank to the Gaza Strip, the Israeli High Court legalizes war crimes.
Date: 3 September 2002
This morning, the Israeli High Court decided to transfer two relatives of a Palestinian activist assassinated by Israeli occupying forces last month from their place of residence in ‘Askar refugee camp in Nablus to the Gaza Strip. This decision further illustrates the role the highest Israeli judicial body contains to take in supporting and legalizing war crimes committed by the Israeli government and military against Palestinian civilians.
An extended judicial team of nine judges held a session in the Israeli High Court of Justice, Jersualem, to consider a petition submitted to the court by three Palestinians against an Israeli military order to transfer them to the Gaza Strip. The three are relatives of two Palestinian activists, suspected of attacks against Israeli targets. The court decided to expel Kifah and Intissar ‘Ajouri, brother and sister of ‘Ali ‘Ajouri who was assassinated by Israeli occupying forces on 5 August 2002. The family home was demolished last July in a punishment for Ali’s alleged activities. However, the court overturned the Israeli military decision to expel ‘Abdul Nasser ‘Assida whose brother was killed in an attack on an Israeli settlement in Nablus district. The court ruled that Kifah and Intissar ‘Ajouri could not be dispatched indefinitely to the Strip and that they could return to the West Bank after two years.
This is not the first time that Israeli occupying forces have unlawfully deported or transferred Palestinians. Since they first occupied the Palestinian Territories, the Israeli military have deported and transferred thousands of political activists of various Palestinian organizations. On 10 May 2002, Israeli occupying forces deported 13 Palestinians from the West Bank to Europe and transferred 26 others to the Gaza Strip, after the 37-day siege imposed on the Church of the Nativity. In late August, Israeli occupying forces transferred Adib Thawabta, from Beit Fajjar near Hebron, to the Gaza Strip upon the completion of his term of administrative detention in the Ketziot Detention camp in the Negev.
PCHR strongly condemns the Israeli High Court’s decision. This decision demonstrates that the ongoing unlawful treatment of Palestinian civilians in violation of international human rights and humanitarian law is not only related to the Israeli military but is in fact sanction in the actions and policies of the State of Israel through its three authorities; the executive, the legislature and the judiciary. In PCHR’s experience, the Israeli judiciary has often legalized the actions of the Israeli military despite their prohibition under international law.
The Israeli High Court’s decision reflects Israel’s failure to respect and implement the provisions of international human rights and humanitarian law by which the State of Israel is bound. These latest transfers constitute collective punishment of persons afforded protected status under the Fourth Geneva Convention since they are punished for the alleged actions of a relative. The Israeli military have argued that this latest transfer is a “deterent,” but is clearly a retaliatory act prohibited by Article 33 of the Fourth Geneva Convention, which provides that “no protected person may be punished for an offence he or she has not personally committed.” Additionally, article 49 of the Convention also prohibits individual or mass forcible transfers of protected persons. The forcible transfer of a protected person also constitutes a violation of article 147 of the Fourth Geneva Convention, and, therefore, a war crime.
