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Last update - 22:57 10/09/2008
Rights group: Israel forcing Palestinians in West Bank back to Gaza
By Haaretz Service and The Associated Press
Tags: B'tselem, residence permits 

Two Israeli human rights groups said in a joint report Wednesday that a new Israeli policy is deepening the separation between the West Bank and Gaza and tearing Palestinian families apart, in violation of international law.

The policy, in effect since November 2007, is turning some Palestinians into illegal residents in their own homes, said the report by the groups B'Tselem and Hamoked. In one high-profile case, a Gaza man has been barred from joining his wife who has West Bank residency and gave birth to quadruplets last month.

Israeli officials say the travel ban came in response to the takeover of Gaza by Hamas in June 2007. Following the takeover, Israel declared Gaza a hostile entity and, along with Egypt, imposed a strict blockade on the coastal territory that is home to 1.4 million Palestinians.
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Israel also refused to register a change of address of Gazans who moved from Gaza to the West Bank before 2000, according to Wednesday's report.

Under a new policy, these Gazans must now obtain special permits to continue living in the West Bank, the report said. The permits are valid for three months at a time, and very stringent criteria must be met, the rights groups said. Marriage to a West Banker does not guarantee getting a permit, the report said.

Gazans caught in the West Bank without a permit are sent back to Gaza.

The new permit regime is an unprecedented, legally baseless move by which Israel is turning Palestinian residents of the Occupied Palestinian Territories into 'illegal aliens' in their own homes, the report said.

Sarit Michaeli, a spokeswoman for B'Tselem, estimated that hundreds of Palestinians are affected by the new restrictions.

Israel's government office in charge of formulating the new policy had no immediate comment.

Andy David, an Israeli Foreign Ministry spokesman, said Israel considers the West Bank and Gaza as parts of a future Palestinian state. The Hamas takeover of Gaza and the group's refusal to recognize previous peace accords are the real reason for the constraints on the passage of Palestinians between Gaza and the West Bank, David said.

Hamoked's lawyers are representing a Gaza bride who planned to marry a West Bank man, and was told by Israel she could attend her wedding in the West Bank only if she deposits a NIS 20,000 shekel ($5,500) guarantee that she will return to Gaza afterward.

At the same time, Israel grants permits for West Bankers to join spouses in Gaza, provided they agree never to return to the West Bank, the groups said. Such demands are an attempt to forcibly remove residents of the West Bank to the Gaza Strip, according to the report.

Haula Hamdan, 32, married a Gaza man five years ago, but is still registered as a West Bank resident. Hamdan, a major in the Palestinian police, left Gaza in early August to give birth to quadruplets - two boys and two girls - at an Israeli hospital. After the birth, she decided not to return to Gaza because of the difficult living conditions there, and is staying with her parents in her home village of Rafat.

She said Israel is barring her husband from joining her in the West Bank. "I don't want to go back to Gaza under any circumstances because there is no medication there," she said in an interview. "I cannot help my children there. I want my husband to come here."


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      1.   Israel forcibly transfered Jews from Gaza 14:19  |  JD 10/09/08
      2.   It`s Abbas-Fayyad who ordered so . 14:19  |  Joseph.E 10/09/08
      3.   I hope this is true 15:50  |  Pamela 10/09/08
      4.   It was my order to keep them apart 16:03  |  17 10/09/08
      5.   It`s time to point out, yet again, the duplicity of this 16:25  |  Johnboy 10/09/08
      6.   Hello Johnybaby... 16:48  |  hertzel 10/09/08
      7.   A Lesson For Johnboy 16:58  |  Yishai Kohen 10/09/08
      8.   Johnboy and irrelevant documents 17:01  |  17 10/09/08
      9.   #3 Pamela In Essex 17:10  |  Labhras 10/09/08
      10.   Ironic truth 17:24  |  x-ray 10/09/08
      11.   forcible transfer 18:20  |  robert 10/09/08
      12.   This would qualify as a war crime. 18:28  |  Ivar 10/09/08
      13.   I almost believed the story 18:41  |  Arie 10/09/08
      14.   The same B`Tselem whose Casualty Count .. 18:48  |  Mr. No Swallow - it 10/09/08
      15.   #12 Ivar - Anyone fool knows that Wikipedia 18:54  |  * BEN JABO 10/09/08
      16.   # 6 hertzel "B`Tselem and Iran" 19:44  |  Joseph.E 10/09/08
      17.   #9 Labhras 19:46  |  H 10/09/08
      18.   Israel forcibly transfers Palestinians from W. Bank to Gaza 19:50  |  Richard Lightbearer 10/09/08
      19.   Pamela #3 19:58  |  Esther 10/09/08
      20.   Arabs born in Aza have no right to go to Yehuda & Shomron 20:00  |  Yael 10/09/08
      21.   Any IDF response? 20:18  |  Dave Duncan 10/09/08
      22.   Jews in Gaza 20:23  |  AM 10/09/08
      23.   IVAR- NO, ITS NOT A WAR CRIME... GIVE IT A REST 20:34  |  BF 10/09/08
      24.   To AM # 22 - `Their homes......` 21:59  |  Dolly 10/09/08
      25.   To Richard Lightbearer # 18 - Crimes against humanity 22:25  |  Dagma 10/09/08
      26.   Richard a question 22:29  |  Golani 10/09/08
      27.   so what 22:50  |  dave 10/09/08
      28.   Israel forcibly...? easy said 23:22  |  Moshe 10/09/08
      29.   Labhras 23:38  |  Connie 10/09/08
      30.   Pal breeding machine places extra demands on Israel 23:50  |  Absolute Sweden 10/09/08
      31.   war crimes? who cares? 00:48  |  fsf 11/09/08
      32.   Labhas Ireland 01:02  |  Pamela 11/09/08
      33.   Labhas Ireland 01:08  |  Pamela 11/09/08
      34.   Pamela 01:09  |  Boycott 11/09/08
      35.   Richard Lightberer 01:22  |  Pamela 11/09/08
      36.   Israel`s fear: Demographic! 01:24  |  Maureen Ann 11/09/08
      37.   #7 A Lesson for Yishai 01:26  |  Johnboy 11/09/08
      38.   #8 Just a friendly reminder to 17 01:33  |  Johnboy 11/09/08
      39.   Esther TV 01:34  |  Pamela 11/09/08
      40.   to Pamela #3 - absolutly right 01:37  |  zeev 11/09/08
      41.   #18 Richard Lightbearer - If you`re that adamant 01:41  |  * BEN JABO 11/09/08
      42.   Ivor Estona 01:46  |  Pamela 11/09/08
      43.   # 15 Ben Jabo. There is more. 01:52  |  Maureen Ann 11/09/08
      44.   Quadruplets and another life 02:37  |  Joe Hill 11/09/08
      45.   #37 Johnboy`s Wishful Thinking 03:40  |  Yishai Kohen 11/09/08
      46.   #28 Where your logic falls down, Moshe 03:49  |  Johnboy 11/09/08
      47.   #45 Yishai, wrong and wrong 03:57  |  Johnboy 11/09/08
      48.   Am I supposed to care about this nonsense? 06:03  |  McQueen 11/09/08
      49.   Johnboy - 06:33  |  17 11/09/08
      50.   Johnboy Wtrong And Wronger 07:32  |  Yishai Kohen 11/09/08
      51.   #48 Why you are supposed to care, McQueen 07:44  |  Johnboy 11/09/08
      52.   #50 I`ve been over this before with 17, Yishai Part 2 10:16  |  Johnboy 11/09/08
      53.   * BEN JABO the Hypocrite #15 10:46  |  Roo 11/09/08
      54.   #50 I`ve been over this before with 17, Yishai Part 1 12:05  |  Johnboy 11/09/08
      55.   #49 2nd try to 17 12:08  |  Johnboy 11/09/08
      56.   #15 Ben Jabo "any fool knows Wikipedia 17:58  |  ballistic 11/09/08
      57.   #53 Yes Roo, Ben Jabo just loves to cite 18:04  |  ballistic 11/09/08
      58.   #53 Roo & all the others - Learn to read!!! 14:45  |  * BEN JABO 12/09/08
      59.   #56 Ballistic - You proved it!! 14:48  |  * BEN JABO 12/09/08
      60.   #53-2 Roo - Learn to read & understand 15:18  |  * BEN JABO 12/09/08
      61.   International Law 02:37  |  Semitic Jew. 13/09/08
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