Ref: 140/2003

 The Israeli
occupying forces informed PCHR’s lawyers today that they have begun proceedings
to transfer 16 Palestinians being held under Israeli military administrative
detention orders from the West Bank to the Gaza Strip.  The 16
Palestinians were being held in administrative detention in Israeli military
detention facilities on suspicion of providing assistance to Palestinians who
were involved in attacks against Israeli targets.  

 Major
General Moshe Kaplinski, GOC of the Israeli military Central Command, which
includes the West Bank, today issued an order effectively transferring the 16
individuals from the West Bank to the Gaza Strip.  In accordance with the
order, the 16 have already been transported to detention facilities at the Erez
military compound where they were supposed to be handed the signed transfer
order.  PCHR’s lawyer, Tameem Younis, was refused access to the detainees
at the Erez military compound this afternoon.  According to the order, the
detainees will be held for 48 hours at Erez during which time they will be
granted an opportunity to appeal the transfer order if they wish.  They
will then be transferred into the Gaza Strip.

 PCHR
condemns this latest incidence of unlawful transfer of Palestinians.  The
unlawful transfer of protected persons within occupied territory constitutes a
grave breach of the Fourth Geneva Convention, article 147, and a war crime, as
further clarified in article 85 of Additional Protocol I to the Geneva
Conventions.

 In
August 2002, the Israeli military first issued an “assigned
residence” order to unlawfully transfer Palestinians within the Occupied
Palestinian Territories.  The order was first used in September 2002 to
unlawfully transfer Kifah and Intisar Ajouri to the Gaza Strip from the West
Bank for a period of two years.  The Israeli military claimed that the
Ajouris had assisted their brother, Ali Ajouri, who the Israeli military
accused of involvement in attacks against Israeli targets.  Israeli
authorities argued that “assigned residence” orders are used to
“deter” relatives and others from assisting Palestinians involved in
attacks against Israeli targets.  An Israeli Supreme Court ruling on 3
September 2002 upheld the “assigned residence order” and the Ajouris
were transferred the following day.

 PCHR
reiterates its view that the Israeli military “assigned residence”
order (amended Israeli military order no.387 – Amendment no.84/order no. 510)
is illegal on several accounts, including its use as a punitive/deterrent
measure and as a denial of rights to a fair trial, including the right to an
effective appeal, failure to disclose “evidence” to the defense, and
use of confessions extracted under torture.

PCHR calls
for the immediate cessation of these proceedings, and the withdrawal of the
“assigned residence” order.  PCHR further calls for the
cessation of all violations of international human rights and humanitarian law,
including war crimes, perpetrated by the Israeli occupying forces against
Palestinian civilians in the Occupied Palestinian Territories.