PRESS RELEASEPalestinian Legislative Council Member Denied Exit

from Gaza Strip to attend Council Meeting

Published on 30 January 1997 @ 14.00 GMT

Palestinian Legislative Council Member Ra’fat al-Najjar has been denied exit from the Gaza Strip and access to the West Bank in order to attend Palestinian Legislative Council meetings as of 27 January 1997. Mr. Al-Najjar told the Palestinian Centre for Human Rights that he was informed the decision to prevent him from passing through Israeli territory in order to attend Council meetings was taken by Israeli Minister of Defence Yitzhak Mordechai for unspecified “security reasons.”

On 27 January 1997, Mr. Najjar, elected from the constituency of Khan Younis, was travelling from the Gaza Strip to the West Bank to attend a Palestinian Legislative Council Committee meeting when Israeli soldiers at Erez checkpoint denied him exit and informed him of the decision. Mr. Najjar carries a VIP Category 2 card, issued by the Israeli authorities, which is valid until 31 December 1997.

Following prolonged negotiations between the Palestinian Authority and Israeli authorities after the imposition of a total closure on the West Bank and Gaza Strip on 25 February 1996, all Palestinian Legislative Council members were issued with VIP Category 2 cards. The closure included tight restrictions on the movement of people, goods, and vehicles between the West Bank and the Gaza Strip, including on that of Council members travelling between the West Bank and Gaza Strip in order to attend Council meetings. These restrictions caused the postponement of meetings and obstructed the work of the Council and its committees on numerous occasions.

According to the stipulations on the VIP Category 2 card, “The bearer of [the] card is a V.I.P. in the Palestinian Authority, who is authorised to enter Israel and the Territories under the administration of Israeli Military Government and is not required to obtain a personal permit…No routine searches of the bearer of this card or his vehicle will be conducted at the checkpoints…”

The Palestinian Centre for Human Rights condemns the Israeli decision to deprive Mr. Ra’fat al-Najjar access through Israeli territory to the West Bank, and considers this step a serious violation of the rights of Council members and obstruction of their work. The decision appears to be a regression towards the situation prevailing during the height of the closure imposed in February 1996, during which freedom of movement between the West Bank and Gaza Strip was denied to Palestinian Legislative Council members. Such restrictions are humiliating and obstruct the efforts of the democratically-elected members of the Palestinian Legislative Council and the Palestinian people to build a society based on freedom and democratic principles.

Accordingly, the Palestinian Centre for Human Rights calls for the international community to intervene to exert pressure on the Israeli Government to:

1) Lift restrictions on the freedom of movement of Council Member Ra’fat al-Najjar immediately;

2) Guarantee that such restrictions on the movement of Palestinian Legislative Council members will not be imposed in the future;

3) Lift the closure imposed on the Occupied Palestinian Territories and its concomitant restrictions on the movement of people, goods, and vehicles which violate the agreements signed by the Israeli Government and the PLO;

4) Pressure Israel to fulfil its international obligations, including the enactment of “safe passage” between the West Bank and Gaza Strip, as specified in the agreements signed by the Israeli Government and the PLO.

The Palestinian Centre for Human Rights urges that letters be sent to the Israeli Government asking it to fulfil its obligations as enumerated above. Please send your letters to:

Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu

Office of the Prime Minister

3 Kaplan Street

Jerusalem, Israel 91919

Tel: +972-2-6705555

Fax: +972-2-5664838/6512631

Minister of Defence Yitzhak Mordechai

Israeli Ministry of Defence

Kaplan St., Kakirya

Tel Aviv, Israel 67659

Tel: 972-3-5692010/6975750

Fax: +972-3-691 6940

Minister of Justice Tzahi Hanegbi

Israeli Ministry of Justice

29 Salah al-Din Street

East Jerusalem 91029

Tel: 972-2-6708511

Fax: 972-2-6708722/6285438

Acting Attorney General Edna Arbel

Israeli Ministry of Justice

29 Salah al-Din Street

East Jerusalem 91029

Tel: 972-2-6708511

Fax: 972-2-6708722/6285438