Ref: 64/2010
The Palestinian Centre for Human Rights (PCHR) condemns the
discrimination policy adopted by the Palestinian Ministry of Interior in
Ramallah with regard to issuing passports to Palestinians of the Gaza Strip and
the intervention by the General Intelligence Service (GIS) in this regard. PCHR demands the Ministry of Interior comply
with the Palestinian law, to not discriminate among Palestinians based on
political affiliation and to not draw Palestinian civilians into the ongoing
fragmentation. PCHR thus demands the
Ministry to reverse its policy on issuing passports, especially as the Ministry
announced on different occasions that: “The Palestinian passport is
a natural right of each Palestinian. This
right is guaranteed by the law after Palestinians submit documents required by
the law without any other requirements.”
Upon the receipt by PCHR of a number of complaints from
Palestinians in Gaza who claimed that the Ministry of Interior in Ramallah refuses
to issue passports for them because of their political affiliation (affiliates with
the Hamas movement), on 23 June 2010, the PCHR coordinator in the West Bank traveled
to the Ministry of Interior in Ramallah to verify these claims and to understand
the reasons why passports were not issued in the cases of the Palestinians in
question.
Ahmed Safi, Director-General of the Directorate-General of
Passports in the Palestinian government in Ramallah, stated that the
Palestinian Ministry of Interior recognizes every Palestinian’s right to obtain
a passport, regardless of his/her political affiliation. Mr. Safi explained the cases in which
passports can not be issued, including: following a decision made by the Court,
the Attorney General or the police, or if the competent bodies (the security
department) in the Ministry of Interior have doubts regarding information
inserted in the passport application. Mr.
Safi stated that decisions made by courts and by the Attorney General relate to
criminal cases only. Mr. Safi demanded that
the PCHR coordinator in the West Bank provide him with a list of Palestinians
who were denied passports by the Ministry of Interior.
On 27 June 2010, the PCHR coordinator traveled to the office
of the Director-General of the Directorate-General of Passports and delivered to
him a list of six Palestinians who were denied passports. Mr. Safi checked the names in his computer
and told the PCHR coordinator that the information of the persons in the list was
not inserted in the records of the Ministry of Interior, which means, according
to Mr. Safi, that their applications were not delivered to the Ministry. The PCHR coordinator then went to Mr. Abdul
Majid ‘Ouda, Director of Gaza Passports Department, who demanded another
officer to check the names in his computer. Mr. ‘Ouda also said that the applications of the persons in the list were
not delivered to the Directorate-General of Passports. The three officers affirmed that any
application, including rejected applications, delivered to the Ministry of
Interior and to the office of GIS in the the Ministry of Interior in Ramallah,
is registered in the records of the Directorate-General of Passports. According to these authorities, therefore,
the applications of those persons issuing complaints were not delivered to the
Ministry of Interior in Ramallah.
On 06 July 2010, the PCHR coordinator submitted an
application, in his personal and professional capacity and in accordance with a
power-of-attorney granted to him by a Palestinian civilian, to the GIS office in the Ministry of Interior
in Ramallah. On 11 July, the PCHR
coordinator went to check with GIS, but was told that the application was
rejected without being offered an explanation. GIS officers said: “The majority of countries in the world,
including the United States, require citizens applying for passports to submit
‘certificates of good conduct'” PCHR
discovered that it is the second time that the application of this applicant was
rejected.
On 11 July 2010, the PCHR coordinator submitted
applications, in his personal and professional capacity and in accordance with
powers-of-attorney granted to him by seven Palestinians, to the GIS office in the
Ministry of Interior in Ramallah. On 13
July, the PCHR coordinator went to check with GIS, but he was told that four of
the submitted applications were rejected and the other three applications were
accepted. Thus, in total, five out of
eight applications were rejected. The
following day, the PCHR coordinator traveled to the Gaza Passports Department
in the Ministry of Interior in Ramallah to deliver the three approved
applications, but the relevant officer referred him to the Military Intelligence
Service because two of the approved applicants are governmental employees.
The PCHR coordinator confronted the officers in the Ministry
of Interior with the fact that they denied the application in previous visits,
but they stated that they are executive bodies within the Ministry of Interior. The PCHR coordinator was told to continue the
matter with His Excellency the Undersecretary of the Ministry of Interior,
Hassan ‘Alawi. The PCHR coordinator
immediately traveled to the office of Mr. ‘Alawi, but he was not able to meet
him because Mr. ‘Alawi was not present.
On Wednesday morning, 13 July 2010, the PCHR coordinator traveled
to the office of His Excellency the Undersecretary of the Ministry of Interior
and explained to him the previous events and delivered to him copies of the
applications that he submitted to the GIS. Mr. ‘Alawi promised the PCHR coordinator to call him either in the
afternoon on the same day or on the following morning. At approximately 09:00 on Thursday, 14 July,
the PCHR coordinator traveled to the office of Mr. ‘Alawi, but he was not able to meet with him
because Mr. ‘Alawi was busy with internal meetings. At approximately 11:00 later that day, the
PCHR coordinator traveled again to the office of Mr. ‘Alawi, and presented to him copies of the
applications that were delivered to him the previous day. Mr. ‘Alawi marked the applications with
“to be finished upon the approval of the Minister.” On the same day, the
PCHR coordinator submitted the five applications which were rejected earlier.
On 25 July 2010, the PCHR coordinator traveled to the Gaza
Passports Department in the Ministry of Interior in Ramallah and was surprised
that the eight applications that he submitted, including the three ones which
were approved, were suspended. He has
since followed up with the Director-General of the Directorate-General of
Passports and with the Gaza Passports Department several times during the last
three days. The last time he checked
with them was at approximately 10:30 on 27 July 2010. The PCHR coordinator was told that the
applicants were rejected because “they are not committed to
legitimacy.”
PCHR notes that one of the rejected applicants is suffering
from kidney failure and undergoes dialysis treatment twice a week. He has a medical report issued by the
Artificial Kidney Department of Shifa Hospital explaining his conditions. On 05 July 2010, he was issued a medical
referral from the Specialist Medical Treatment Department in the Ministry of
Health to undergo kidney transplantation surgery in Nasser Institute Hospital
in Egypt.
It should be noted that on 12 July 2010, the Ministry of
Interior in Ramallah issued a press release that stated: “The Palestinian
passport is a natural right of each Palestinian. This right is guaranteed by the law after
Palestinians submit documents required by the law without any other requirements. We all assume responsibility to protect this
right and, at the same time, maintain the credibility and quality of passports.”
In view of its investigation of this issue, PCHR reiterates
the following:
In view of the above, PCHR renews its demand to keep Palestinian
civilians neutral with regard to the current political division and not to draw
their interests and rights into the ongoing conflict between Fatah and Hamas
movements. In this regard, PCHR calls
upon the Palestinian government in Ramallah to comply with the law and to issue
passports in accordance with the law and not with political pressure.
