Source files at: http://www.hamoked.org.il/news_main_en.asp?id=904
Israeli human rights organization HaMoked today distributed a press release warning that Israel had passed a new military order that requires all residents of the West Bank obtain an Israeli issued permit.
On Tuesday, April 13 2010, the Order regarding Prevention of Infiltration (Amendment No. 2) and the Order regarding Security Provisions (Amendment No. 112) are to enter into effect. The orders, signed by the previous GOC Central Command, Gadi Shamni but not revealed, are worded so broadly such as theoretically allowing the military to empty the West Bank of almost all its Palestinian inhabitants.
Despite the severe ramifications of the orders, the authorities did not publicize their existence among the Palestinian population as required, which raises grave concerns that they intended to pass them secretly without public debate or judicial review.
The orders substantively change the definition of “infiltrator” and in effect apply it to anyone who is present in the West Bank without an Israeli permit. The orders do not define what Israel considers a valid permit. The vast majority of people now living in the West Bank have never been required to hold any sort of permit to be present therein.
Israeli journalist Amira Hass reported in Ha’aretz today that the order would initially likely target Gazans living in the West Bank, as well as Gazan and foreign spouses of West Bank Palestinians.
It also seems clear that international activists and independent journalists living in the West Bank—to whom Israel is hardly likely to issue permits—would also be threatened, but the most disturbing fact remains that the wording of the order—as HaMoked warns—seems unambiguously to threaten the presence of all Palestinian inhabitants of the West Bank.
The military order allows for violators to be imprisoned for up to seven years or deported.
Nigel Parry is a former webmaster of Birzeit University, co-founder of the Electronic Intifada, and a longtime independent media activist. He currently lives in Pittsburgh, PA.
