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Press Release
PCHR condemns deal ending Siege of the Church of the Nativity
Ref: 69/2002
Date: 11 May 2002
PCHR condemns the European-brokered Israeli-Palestinian deal under which 39 Palestinians who had shelter in the Church of the Nativity were unlawfully deported in order to put an end of an almost-40-day Israeli siege. PCHR contends that the unlawful transfer of protected persons under the Geneva Conventions is a war crime.
According to what has been published about the deal and its implementation, on Friday, 10 May 2002, all Palestinians who had shelter in the Church of the Nativity were taken to a military base of Israeli occupying forces near Bethlehem to be interrogated there by Israeli security officers. Then, according to the deal, 13 of them were taken to Ben Gurion Airport to be deported in a British military plane to Cyprus where they would temporarily remain until an agreement on the countries that would receive them could be concluded. In addition, 26 Palestinians were moved in vehicles to the Gaza Strip after they had been beaten and humiliated by Israeli occupying forces. The deportees had no opportunity to contact or see their families before their deportation. The other Palestinians and clerics blocked in the church, more than 80 persons, were released to return home.
While the international community welcomed the deal and colluded in its conclusion, PCHR is dismayed such international involvement in what is essentially a grave breach of international humanitarian law. PCHR asserts that once again political considerations have taken primacy over international law, at the expense of Palestinian civilians, protected under international humanitarian law.
The individual or mass deportation from occupied territory of protected persons is defined as a grave breach, namely a war crime, under the Fourth Geneva Convention 1949, article 147, and the First Additional Protocol to the Geneva Conventions. PCHR also asserts that Article 8 of the Fourth Geneva Convention provides that “protected persons may in no circumstances renounce in part or in entirety the rights secured to them by the present Convention…”, thereby nullifying any agreement by those concerned.
In light of the above:
1.PCHR calls for an independent international inquiry commission to be dispatched to investigate the besieging of one of the holiest sites in the world, the Church of the Nativity, and other potential violations of international humanitarian and human rights law, including the killing of civilians who had taken shelter in the Church.
2.PCHR asserts that the deportation of Palestinians who are protected under the Fourth Geneva Convention of 1949 is a grave breach of the Convention, namely a war crime.
3.PCHR emphasizes that Palestinian or personal acceptance of deportation does not legalize such an illegal measure.
4.PCHR condemns and denounces the position of those states that helped or participated in reaching the aforementioned deal in violation of international law.
5.PCHR calls upon those countries which will receive these deported Palestinians to ensure their safety, not to undermine their legal status and to work on their return to their homeland.
6.PCHR, in cooperation with international parties, will follow up the question of deported Palestinians in the countries which will receive them, as those countries will in this case violate international humanitarian law.
7.PCHR considers that the deal deepens the international conspiracy of silence towards Israeli practices and allows Israel, regrettably in cooperation with the international community, to act as a state above law.
