Urgent Actions |
Amnesty International's global Urgent Action network provides an effective and rapid means of preventing some of the most life-threatening human rights violations against individuals.
Join the Urgent Action network |
| |
URGENT ACTION
Israel/OT: Further Information on Forcible transfer
PUBLIC AI Index: MDE 15/001/2004
08 January 2004
Further Information on UA 292/03 (MDE 15/092/2003, 15 October 2003) and
follow-ups (MDE 15/100/2003, 11 November 2003; MDE 15/106/2003, 5 December
2003) - Forcible transfer
ISRAEL/OCCUPIED TERRITORIES 18 Palestinians; former administrative
detainees: Rami Fawaz Hassan Hjeili (m), Hussam Hamdallah Abdelqader ‘Odeh (m),
Rasem Khattab Hassan Mustafa (m), Sami Hassan ‘Ali Sous (m), Shadi Ismail Satti
‘Ayash (m), Hani Hamdi Hammid Rajabi (m), Samer Abdelghafar Fayad Abu Zeina
(m), Munther Mohammed Yunis al-Ju’bi (m), Nasser Yusef Jum’a (m), Lo’ai Daud
(m), Taha Dweik (m), Samer Bader (m), Raja Hirzallah (m), Mustafa ‘Abed (m),
Ahmad Mishkah (m), Ala’ Hassuni (m), Ghanem Tawfiq Salama (m), Kamal Muhammad
Idris (m)
Mustafa ‘Abed who is married with seven children, was forcibly transferred to
the Gaza Strip on 31 December 2003. This followed the Israeli High Court’s
consideration of his appeal against expulsion. He is the last of the
administrative detainees named above to be forcibly transferred from the West
Bank to the Gaza Strip.
Sixteen of the administrative detainees, including Mustafa ‘Abed, have been
forcibly transferred for a period of two years, one for one year and one for
six months. Pending his transfer, Mustafa ‘Abed had been detained by the
Israeli authorities at the Erez detention centre in the Gaza Strip since
October 2003. Prior to this he was held in Ansar 3/Ketziot prison in the Negev
desert.
According to reports, when Mustafa ‘Abed was transferred he was abandoned by
the Israeli authorities at the al-Shuhada junction close to the Netzarim
settlement in the Gaza Strip and told to make his way to the areas under the
jurisdiction of the Palestinian Authority.
BACKGROUND INFORMATION
The Israeli authorities claim that the forcible transfer of Palestinians from
the West Bank to the Gaza Strip falls within the provisions of "assigned
residence" contained in Article 78 of the Fourth Geneva Convention, which
states that an occupying power may use assigned residence only when absolutely
necessary for its security. The commentary to Article 78 states that: "...such
measures can only be ordered for real and imperative reasons of security; their
exceptional character must be preserved".
Article 49 of the Fourth Geneva Convention states that "Individual or mass
forcible transfers, as well as deportations of protected persons from occupied
territory to the territory of the Occupying Power or to that of any other
country, occupied or not, are prohibited, regardless of their motive." Even
though the West Bank and Gaza Strip are both part of the Occupied Territories
under Israel’s control, they are geographically separate and the Israeli army
does not allow Palestinians living in the Gaza Strip access to the West Bank
and vice-versa. Hence, the forcible transfer of Palestinians from the West Bank
to the Gaza Strip also contradicts the spirit of Article 49.
The Israeli authorities have contended that the forcible transfer of
Palestinians from the West Bank to the Gaza Strip is a lesser measure than
imprisonment. However, for Palestinians being expelled from their home towns
brings back painful memories of the mass expulsion and forced flight of
hundreds of thousands of Palestinians from their towns and villages at the time
of the establishment of the State of Israel in 1948 and again at the time of
Israel’s occupation of the West Bank and Gaza Strip in 1967.
Forcible transfer to the Gaza Strip is particularly evocative, as more than 83%
of the Gaza Strip’s population are Palestinian refugees from the 1948 and 1967
wars.
Israel has the right to take measures to protect the security of its citizens,
but such measures must be reasonable, necessary and proportionate, and must
comply with international law. If the authorities believe that these 18
detainees pose a threat to Israel’s security, their forcible transfer to the
Gaza Strip does not in any way constitute a preventive or protective measure -
as they could easily engage in activities against Israel in the Gaza Strip. The
Israeli authorities have repeatedly accused the Palestinian Authority (PA) of
failing to arrest people involved in attacks against Israelis who reside in
areas under PA jurisdiction and notably in the Gaza Strip. It is difficult to
see how, forcibly transferring people, whom Israel considers to be potentially
dangerous for its security, to the Gaza Strip can effectively remove or reduce
the security danger they allegedly pose to Israel’s security.
Amnesty International believes that the Israeli authorities are using forcible
transfer as a form of collective punishment, a violation of Article 33 of the
Fourth Geneva Convention, and a grave violation of one of the most basic
principles of international human rights law - notably the right of any accused
to a fair trial and to challenge any evidence used against them.
The Israeli authorities claim that these administrative detainees, like
thousands of others who have also been detained without charge or trial, are a
danger to Israel’s security. The organization believes that the above-named 18
and anyone else suspected of a recognizably criminal offence should be promptly
charged and brought to trial in accordance with international standards for
fair trial, and that the Israeli authorities’ failure to produce the necessary
evidence to prosecute and convict suspects in a court of law should not result
in a situation where people are punished for the actions of others or as a
deterrent to others
Many thanks to all those who sent appeals. If possible, please send a final
round of appeals to arrive as quickly as possible, in English, Hebrew or your
own language:
- condemning the unlawful forcible transfer of the 18 administrative detainees
named above;
- calling for the annulment of the military order for the unlawful forcible
transfer of the above-mentioned 18 and for them to be allowed to return to the
West Bank;
- urging the Israeli authorities to comply with Article 33 and other relevant
provisions of the Fourth Geneva Convention, which Israel has ratified and which
states that "No protected person (Palestinians living in the Occupied
Territories are protected persons under the terms of the Convention) may be
punished for an offence he or she has not personally committed...";
- pointing out that if the above named eighteen have committed any offence they
should be promptly charged and brought to trial in accordance with
international standards for fair trial. If the authorities have no intention of
bringing them to justice for any recognizably criminal offences they should not
be subjected to forcible transfer, administrative detention or other
punishment.
APPEALS TO:
Ministry of Justice
Minister of Justice Yosef Lapid
29 Salah al-Din Street
Jerusalem 91010, Israel
Telegram: Justice Minister, Jerusalem, Israel
Fax: +972 2 628 5438
E-mail: sar@justice.gov.il
Salutation: Dear Minister
Judge Attorney General
General Menachem Finkelstein,
Chief Military Attorney
Military postal code 9605
IDF, Israel
Telegram: Judge Attorney General, IDF, Israel
Fax: +972 3 569 4370
Salutation: Dear General Finkelstein
COPIES TO: diplomatic representatives of ISRAEL/OCCUPIED TERRITORIES accredited
to your country.
PLEASE SEND APPEALS IMMEDIATELY. Check with the International Secretariat, or
your section office, if sending appeals after 19 February 2004. ********
| AI Index: MDE 15/001/2004 | | 8 January 2004 |
Back to Top 
MIDDLE EAST AND NORTH AFRICA 
