Ref: 25/2010

Tomorrow,
13 April 2010, two new Israeli military orders will come into effect,
potentially turning all West Bank residents into “infiltrators”.

Order
No. 1650 regarding Prevention of Infiltration and Order No. 1649 regarding
Security Provisions were issued in October 2009 as amendments to an old
military order (1969) which declared “infiltrators” coming from Jordan, Syria,
Egypt or Lebanon (the so-called “enemy states” at the time of the issuance of
the order) liable to imprisonment and deportation.

The
new orders define an “infiltrator” in such generic terms that virtually any
person currently present in the West Bank could potentially fall under that
definition and consequently incur criminal liability and/or be subject to
deportation.

An
“infiltrator” is defined as “a person who entered the Area unlawfully” or “a
person who is present in the Area and does not lawfully hold a permit”. The
‘Area’ refers to the occupied West Bank.

Pursuant
to Military order No. 1650 any person who unlawfully entered the area shall be
sentenced to seven years imprisonment, whereas an individual who has lawfully
entered the area but does not “hold a permit” shall be sentenced to three years
imprisonment.

Moreover,
regardless of whether the “infiltrator” is charged with an offence under the
Order or not, the military commander may order the deportation of the person
from the area; the issuance of the deportation order shall be considered as an
arrest order and serve as the “legal source for holding such infiltrator in
custody pending his deportation”. The deportation can be executed 72 hours
after the order, and in some cases even sooner.

As
a consequence of the dramatic expansion and ambiguity of the new definition of
“infiltrator” the Order not applies to people coming from so-called “enemy
states”, as in the past; it now applies to every Palestinian, both those who
were born in the West Bank and those who lawfully moved to it, for instance
from Gaza or from abroad.

The
new regulation establishes that every person without a document or permit is
“presumed to be an infiltrator”. According to Order 1650 the permit is a
document issued by the military commander, or a person appointed by him in
accordance with security legislation, or by Israeli authorities under the Entry
into Israel Law, 5712-1952. As has been highlighted by Hamoked

Center
for the Defence of the Individual, the broadness of the definition suggests
that the Order applies to every person currently present in the West Bank
regardless of his status, identity, or nationality.

In
fact over the past number of years, thousands of applications made by persons
living in the occupied Palestinian territory (oPt) since decades in accordance
with the Interim Agreement between Israel and the Palestinian Authority or by
Palestinians seeking family reunification have been illegally “frozen” by the
Israeli authorities who refused to grant them status in the oPt.

Additionally,
since 1967 thousands of Palestinians moved to the West Bank from the Gaza Strip
 and they were never required to have a written
permit, as there was no requirement under the military legislation to hold a
written permit.

It
appears that pursuant to the new military orders thousands of residents in the
West Bank will be potentially subject to immediate deportation.

Such
a practice would constitute a breach of the Fourth Geneva Convention, and in
particular of Article 49, which prohibits any kind of forcible transfer as well
as the deportation of protected persons (civilians) from the occupied
territory.

It
must also be noted that pursuant to military order No. 1649 regarding Security
Provisions a person can challenge the deportation order before a committee
appointed by the military commander (“The Committee for Examining Deportation
Orders”) which shall be established accordingly.

The
Order does not regulate the modalities pursuant to which the appeal can be
brought before the Committee; however, it is established that the person who is
held in custody pursuant to a deportation order “shall be brought before the
Committee as soon as possible and no later than 8 days from the date of
issuance of the deportation order”.

It
is evident that this system is intrinsically flawed: first of all PCHR stresses
again that no genuine judicial system is possible pursuant to the Israeli
military system (see the most recent PCHR Report “Genuinely Unwilling” of
February 2010).

Second,
according to Order No. 1650 the deportation order can be implemented within 3
days (or even less in certain circumstances), long before the 8 day time frame
established for appeals hearings by Order No.1649.

It
can be expected that in most of the cases the person will be deported without
any possibility of challenging the order pursuant to which he has been arrested
and deported.

Such
a system is a blatant breach of international human rights standards, which
require that every provision involving restriction of liberty must be subject
to judicial review.

PCHR
strongly condemns the issuance of these new military orders and calls upon
Israel not to implement them.

These
orders form part of the criminal policy that Israel has developed over the
years against the Palestinian people; this policy combine occupation,
apartheid, colonization and forced displacement of the population.

The
contents of the new military orders are in blatant violation of international
human rights standards and international law principles and represent one more
tool in the hand of the Israeli occupation forces to control and alter the
demographic composition of the oPt and ultimately impose a Jewish majority in
Israel and the occupied territory.

These
new orders – ostensibly enacted as ‘security measures’ – are, in fact, aimed at
legitimising the forcible transfer and deportation of the civilian population
of the oPt.

Israel,
through its military commanders, is taking unlawful measures to eradicate the
Palestinian people from their territory and take overall control of the area.

PCHR
is seriously concerned about the implementation of these orders which could
amount to individual or mass forcible transfer, as well as deportation of
protected persons, measures absolutely prohibited under Article 49 of the
Fourth Geneva Convention.

PCHR
calls the international community to take action and put an end to the illegal
population transfer, segregation and displacement that is taking place in the
oPt and to impede the implementation of these new unlawful tools. PCHR remind
that States Parties to the Geneva Convention have the duty to ensure respect
for the conventions in all circumstances.

Immediate
action must be taken if the international community is to prevent the
aggravation of the criminal policy pursued by Israel in the oPt.

“End”