Israel admits it covertly canceled residency status of 140,000 Palestinians

[Douglas Carpenter]

Israel admits it covertly canceled residency status of 140,000 Palestinians

Documents obtained by Haaretz reveals that between 1967 and 1994 many Palestinians traveling abroad were stripped of residency status, allegedly without warning.

By Akiva Eldar

Israel has used a covert procedure to cancel the residency status of 140,000 West Bank Palestinians between 1967 and 1994, the legal advisor for the Judea and Samaria Justice Ministry's office admits, in a new document obtained by Haaretz. The document was written after the Center for the Defense of the Individual filed a request under the Freedom of Information Law.


snip:

Palestinians who found themselves "no longer residents" include students who graduated from foreign universities, businessmen and laborers who left for work in the Gulf. Over the years, many of them have started families, so the number of these Palestinians and their descendants is probably in the hundreds of thousands, even if some have died.

Among them is the brother of the Palestinians' chief negotiator, Saeb Erekat. Erekat's brother left for studies in the United States and was not allowed to come back; he still lives in California.


snip:

The Center for the Defense of the Individual said that "mass withdrawal of residency rights from tens of thousands of West Bank residents, tantamount to permanent exile from their homeland, remains an illegitimate demographic policy and a grave violation of international law."

http://www.haaretz.com/print-edition/news/israel-admits-it-covertly-canceled-residency-status-of-140-000-palestinians-1.360935?utm_source=Mondoweiss+List&utm_campaign=c9c2b0cb66-RSS_EMAIL_CAMPAIGN&utm_medium=email

[ChairmanAgnostic]

1. Israel violates international law? The ocean is deep, too!

And quite often wet.

[Douglas Carpenter]

2. Erekat: Israel's cancelation of Palestinian residency is a 'war crime'

Erekat: Israel's cancelation of Palestinian residency is a 'war crime'

Comment by top Palestinian official comes in response to official document quoted by Haaretz, according to which Israel covertly canceled the residency status of 140,000 West Bank Palestinians between 1967 and 1994.

By Akiva Eldar and Haaretz Service

Top Palestinian negotiator Saeb Erekat said Wednesday that Israel's cancelling of the residency status of 140,000 West Bank Palestinians, as reported by Haaretz, constitutes a war crime and represents an Israeli attempt to affect the demographic composition of the West Bank.

In a statement sent to Haaretz later Wednesday, the chief Palestinian negotiator said the report confirms Palestinian claims that Israel is engaging in a systematic policy of displacement in order to gain land for the expansion of more settlement-colonies and to change the demographic composition of the occupied Palestinian territories."

"This policy should not only be seen as a war crime as it is under international law; it also has a humanitarian dimension: we are talking about people who left Palestine to study or work temporarily but who could not return to resume their lives in their country with their families," Erekat added.

The top PA official also pointed out that the document revealed by Haaretz was evidence that “Israel’s actions violate the Universal Declaration of Human Rights which states that ‘everyone has the right to leave any country, including his own, and to return to his country’.”

http://www.haaretz.com/news/diplomacy-defense/erekat-israel-s-cancelation-of-palestinian-residency-is-a-war-crime-1.361079?utm_source=Mondoweiss+List&utm_campaign=c9c2b0cb66-RSS_EMAIL_CAMPAIGN&utm_medium=email

[fascisthunter]

3. sickening and hard to forgive

I have hope good Israelis will come around and put a stop on this governments criminal actions. Stuff like this just breeds hatred.

[Jefferson23]

4. From the OP:

"The State of Israel should fix the ongoing wrong at once, restore residency rights to all affected Palestinians and allow them and their families to return to their homeland," the center said.

Good luck with that.


Perhaps Mr. Wiesenfeld, the CUNY trustee, can sharpen Americans understanding of Kushner's false claims of Israel's
radical egregious policies that would otherwise be clear to ANYONE paying attention.

[shira]

5. Seriously? How is this possible?

Not one of 140,000 thought to ask as they left their residency cards at the Jordan border what the terms were WRT their residency status?

Erekat said he learned from his brother's experience and came back several times to keep his residency status. Therefore Erekat knew, but the claim in this news report is NO ONE knew over a span of 27 years? Only NOW do we know that 140,000 people who left prior to 1994, some 17 years ago, are not allowed back?

Seriously?

Why didn't Erekat and his brother start complaining 20 years ago?

Why hasn't anyone else from the original 140,000 complained until now?

Baloney.

[shira]

9. Now for context. In the USA permanent residents lose their status when they move

out of the country and are gone for more than 365 days.

http://travel.state.gov/visa/immigrants/info/info_1333.html

[Jefferson23]

10. You're comparing apples to oranges. United States citizens

are not the same as lawful permanent residents. Are you an American citizen?

btw, you have provided no context, I hope you understand that much at this point.

[shira]

16. We're not talking about citizens but permanent residents.

Who turns in their ID cards at the border without knowing the terms and conditions WRT their return? And if they don't like the terms, why not just become citizens and avoid the problem altogether?

[Jefferson23]

23. We? You attempted to bring context as you put it where none exists.

You: "And if they don't like the terms, why not just become citizens and avoid the problem altogether?"

If they don't like the terms indeed..you must be kidding.


Israeli policy that is a violation of international law but does indeed expose their true objectives; your question is inapplicable.



''The mass withdrawal of residency rights from tens of thousands of West Bank residents, tantamount to permanent exile from their homeland, remains an illegitimate demographic policy and a grave violation of international law,'' said HaMoked, an Israeli human rights organisation, which lodged the freedom-of-information request.

Some of the 140,000 were later allowed to return but an estimated 130,000 are still deemed NLRs.

A HaMoked spokeswoman, Dalia Kerstein, said: ''I doubt there is a family in the West Bank that does not have a relative who lost their residency rights in this way.''



Read more: http://www.smh.com.au/world/travelling-palestinians-stripped-of-residency-20110512-1ekou.html#ixzz1MFEEQ2sC

[Douglas Carpenter]

11. your reference refers to immigrants- not to people who where born in the U.S.

The Israeli action refers primarily to people who have lived in the West Bank or East Jerusalem all their lives and have roots in Palestine going back generations. This has actually been known for quite some time. It is only that now the Israeli government according to Haaretz is officially admitting it.

I knew a radiologist from East Jerusalem who after working in the Gulf found out at the airport upon his return that he could not enter and was now permanently barred from returning to his home in spite of owning a house there, having visited there almost every year, having been born there and coming from a family that has lived there for countless generations. I know another secretary from Bethlehem who had their residency cancelled while working in the Gulf - again in spite of being born in Bethlehem, having visited every year, owning a house there and coming from a family that has lived there since time immemorial. They now have no legal permanent residency anywhere in the world and cannot return to their own house and family.

[kayecy]

12. Well Shira?..........You are usually very quick to respond.......

[shira]

18. Calm down, Sparky, it hasn't even been 24 hours. n/t

[King_David]

14. Interesting anecdotes nt

I know a family who's parents were celebrating Pesach one night,at the Park Hotel, Netanyah, they and their grandchildren died that night.

[shira]

17. How could it be that Palestinians turning in their iD cards at the border...

...didn't know the terms WRT their arrival back into Israel? They shouldn't have crossed over without knowing. I mean, come on! Once informed about the terms, they could have decided to just become citizens and avoid any problem whatsoever.

I'm not seeing the "bigotry" here and I suspect this is yet another lame Haaretz article that will easily be debunked once all the facts become known.

Your friends didn't know the terms and were never informed? If they knew and didn't like the terms, why not just become citizens?

Regardless, what happened to them is terrible. How could they return each year without renewing their PR status, as the law allows?

[Douglas Carpenter]

20. ones from the West Bank cannot become citizens.

Of course they realize that they might have difficulties with their residency status. But they need the employment at salary levels that they cannot find in the Occupied Territories which usually is to support their families - not in luxury - but enough to at least give some hope for a future for their children. Salaries which would be well below western standards. But still significantly better than what they would find in the Occupied Territories. This is still a blatant human rights abuse and a violation of international law. Anyone who has socialized with Palestinians from the territories has been well aware of this problem for several years. It is true that Palestinians from Jerusalem might have had the option to become Israeli citizens. But most don't want to for reasons that are deeply personally important to them.

[shira]

21. All West Bank Palestinians were permanent residents? Not just the ones in E.Jerusalem? n/t

[Douglas Carpenter]

22. yes, they have permanent West Bank residency - but cannot even travel to East Jerusalem

in most cases (some exceptions - but one could say in 90%+ cases) and certainly don't have the option to become Israeli citizens.

[shira]

25. Never knew about W.Bank residency.

These 140,000 should be allowed back in ASAP.

I suppose a main reason for the policy is these Palestinians were being released into Arab lands that were still technically at war with Israel. It wasn't until 1994 that Israel made peace with Jordan.

Nevertheless, claims of deliberate 'ethnic cleansing' are absurd. With the W.Bank Palestinian population increasing as it has since 1967, Israel must be the world's absolute worst and by far the most incompetent at accomplishing their evil goal of 'ethnic cleansing'.

[musical_soul]

27. That doesn't seem right either.

It seems to me they should have to renounce their residency or become a citizen of another country.

[Jefferson23]

6. "This information is not new to the Palestinian people,

who suffered all these years from systematic Israeli policies to expel the largest number of the indigenous Palestinian population for housing the largest number of Jewish settlers," Ghassan Khattib, a spokesman for the Palestinian Authority, told CNN. "What the report didn't mention is the existing similar policies against Palestinians living in East Jerusalem."

Under the policy to which Khattib refers, Israel strips Palestinians of their Jerusalem residency if they spend more than seven years abroad or if they acquire citizenship from another country. According to numbers obtained by Hamoked, in 2008 alone, Israel revoked more than 4,500 residency permits, a sharp rise from the total of 8,500 residency cards revoked between the years of 1967-2007.

http://articles.cnn.com/2011-05-11/world/israel.residency.policy_1_residency-west-bank-palestinians-palestinian-authority?_s=PM:WORLD

[JonScholar]

8. Though, as the article says, nobody knew the exact scale until now.

[JonScholar]

7. Absolutely disgusting

[Shaktimaan]

13. truly disgusting

So it would seem that these poor people then could become stateless, correct?

Clearly a gross violation of international law and an obvious attempt at ethnic cleansing. There can be no excuses for such a policy. Hopefully this will be a scandal in Israel and we will see people brought up on charges. I doubt it will happen, but one can dream.

It is probably not a war crime as erekat is suggesting, but that might be the best thing one could say about this policy.

[kayecy]

15. Has anyone noticed any reference to this Israeli violation of International Law?...

Clearly a gross violation of international law and an obvious attempt at ethnic cleansing. There can be no excuses for such a policy. Hopefully this will be a scandal in Israel

Oh to be an optimist!....Haaretz broke this story on 12th may....A google for "140000" and "Jerusalem Post" brings up nothing.....Maybe JP has a differernt number but has anyone noticed any reference to this Israeli violation of International Law?

How about in the Hebrew papers?
.
.

[Douglas Carpenter]

19. well yes, truly stateless - even more so than a Palestinian refugee in say Lebanon

who will usually not have citizenship or a Passport - anywhere - but will usually have travel documents and authorization to return to their host country in which they have refugee status. In the case of a revoked residency permit from Jerusalem or the West Bank or the Gaza - they have nothing - except possibly a temporary guest worker visa from which ever country in which they had temporary employment. If and when their contract ends they won't even have that. In the case of the two I mentioned above - they managed to keep employment in the Gulf and thus a temporary work visa. These days the GCC countries are under a lot of pressure from their own citizenry to limit foreign worker visas in order to provide employment for more of their own citizens. I don't really know what these totally stateless people will do when they can no longer obtain employment contracts in the Gulf. Neither Jordan or Lebanon wants to accept any more refugees. I guess they will just turn to their own clans for help to try to find some place to live and hopefully be granted at least temporary residency somewhere.

[Jefferson23]

24. Israel opens its gates to the world, shuts them to Palestinians

Published 03:21 13.05.11
Latest update 03:21 13.05.11



The covert deportation of West Bank residents in order to increase the number of Jews in the West Bank, like the declaration of land as “state land” to build settlements on it, is an example of the occupation’s rotten fruit.

Haaretz Editorial


From the occupation beginning in 1967 to the day after the signing of the Oslo Accords in 1994, Israel used a covert procedure to banish Palestinians by stripping them of their residency rights. This was revealed in an official document drawn up by the Israel Defense Forces’ West Bank headquarters, published by Haaretz on Wednesday.

A letter sent to the Center for the Defense of the Individual says the procedure, enforced on Palestinian West Bank residents who traveled abroad, led to the stripping of 140,000 of them of their residency rights. Israel registered these people as NLRs − no longer residents − a special status that does not allow them to return to their homes. The document makes no mention of the number of Gaza Strip residents who traveled abroad for studies or work and were permanently banished from the region by the same procedure.

The sweeping denial of residency status from tens of thousands of Palestinians and deporting them from their homeland in this way cannot be anything but an illegitimate demographic policy and a grave violation of international law. It’s a policy whose sole purpose is to thin out the Palestinian population in the territories.

It would be reasonable to assume that many family members of the Palestinians uprooted between 1967 and 1994 joined their relatives in exile and became homeless refugees themselves. The gates of the West Bank and Gaza Strip were also locked to the NLR’s children and descendants who were born outside the territories. After the Oslo Accords, Israel allowed a relatively small number of NLRs to return to the territories. Since the second intifada broke out, the people exiled between 1967 and 1994 have been prohibited from visiting their homes, even as tourists.

The covert deportation of West Bank residents in order to increase the number of Jews in the West Bank, like the declaration of land as “state land” to build settlements on it, is an example of the occupation’s rotten fruit. Israel opens its gates to people from all over the world, who have the right of return. It lets them settle in Hebron and at the entrance to Nablus. It must immediately rectify the ongoing injustice caused to tens of thousands of Palestinians who were born in Hebron and raised children in Nablus.

The government would do well to remove the NLR stigma from these people, restore their residency status as quickly as possible and permit them to return home and unite with their families.

http://www.haaretz.com/opinion/israel-opens-its-gates-to-the-world-shuts-them-to-palestinians-1.361422

[musical_soul]

26. Unacceptable.

They can't strip people of their residency rights, never allow them to be their own country, and then expect them to be happy campers.