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 Tags: Israel newsTop 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.
Erekat's comments were in response to a Haaretz report earlier Wednesday that quoted an official Israeli document according to which Israel has used a covert procedure to cancel the residency status of West Bank Palestinians between 1967 and 1994.
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Chief Palestinian negotiator Saeb Erekat in a file photo. |
| Photo by: Dan Keinan |
The document was written after the Center for the Defense of the Individual filed a request under the Freedom of Information Law.
The document states that the procedure was used on Palestinian residents of the West Bank who traveled abroad between 1967 and 1994.
From the occupation of the West Bank until the signing of the Oslo Accords, Palestinians who wished to travel abroad via Jordan were ordered to leave their ID cards at the Allenby Bridge border crossing.
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’.”
In light of the Haaretz report, the statement said, Erekat "called on those states in the international community that have yet to recognize the Palestinian state on the 1967 border to join those who have already done so."
"Our right to self determination must not be subject to negotiations, including the right of our families to live in their homeland. It is time to put an end to the pain and humiliation caused by the continuation of the Israeli occupation,” Erekat said.
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oh I forgot, when israel does its ok.
Saeb Erekat Since 1994 you have not said a word Why ???? Is the reason being nobody ever complained .??
Why are Arabs always so quick to accuse others of the very transgressions they commit with impunity? And more to the point, why does anyone listen? Slandering Israel, as has become something of an international pastime of late, only exposes the ignorance of her accusers. In recent weeks, the US is getting just a taste of Israel's predicament. It is not "illegal", "immoral", or "criminal" to defend aggressively against these kinds of threats. If anything the free world needs to step up its anti-terror strikes to be more effective and more swift.
if you do not recognize Israel as a state, why do you want to be a resident of such a state ?.
Once Palestine is recognized by the UN as independent (this September/October), it will be able to allow in any person they wish. If Israel interferes, this will mean trouble from the rest of the world. Just a tip of the iceberg of problems the Netanyahu-Lieberman government is cooking for us. I hope Israel does not sink like the Titanic, despite the blindness of the captain.
Mr Erekat..You are a smart man maybe decent one as well.But the history of the Arabs is a history of Religious fanatics--bad for jews,Christians etc. A history of dictators and brutal opressions..bad for everyone..so your sweet words will be short-lived and therefore to be rejected..until Arabs can seperate the state from religion. I don't think this is the gonna happen soon.. So conclusion...sorry Erekat, yes Israel is guilty of some or all of your charges, but in the bigger picture...Israel is self-defensively acting.
This is the same guy who went on CNN and told the world that Israel had "massacred" 500 civilians in the Jenin refugee camp and that trucks were carrying away the bodies at night; all big lies. Why anyone listens to him or takes him seriously is beyond my understanding.
abbas erekat pa just don't want Israel plain and simple. The bottom line no peace until Israel is gone
from occupied territory is a war crime, a crime against humanity. No wonder the jews of Israel are lobbying hard for an end of universal jurisdiction in the United Kingdom
Jews cant return to Muslim states. How will compensation be determined? - for arabs that came to palestine from somewhere else? For palestinians that left Palestine before it was Palestine? For those that are 1/16th palestinian....
Stop Talking nonsense.We thought you had handed in your resignation ?|
What war is this liar talking about?
Isn't Erekat the Palestinian crank whose every protestation is hyperbole, immoraly conceived, maliciously concocted and grossly inflated?
That's all this is, ethnic cleansing by another means.
when he will likely learn the new definition of crimes against humanity and war crimes
The only Palestinians who lost their residency status were those who stopped residing in the country for three years without applying for an extension. So, what's the big scandal? They stopped residing for a long period of time and thus stopped being residents. How many of these non-residents actually wanted to return? How many of them willingly settled elsewhere? The loss of residency of 140,000 people over 27 years is a tiny amount. It's about 5,000 a year. It's too insignificant to be considered as some nefarious policy. Compare that to Israel's (approximately) 1% emigration/year and you end up with a non-story.)
they clearly don't Jane.
Jordan is Palestine!
Jane, please don't be so presumptious as to speak for "the whole world". As usual, you have it wrong.
The Jewish Refugees that were kicked out of Arab Countries numbered more than 800,000 ! Some were there 1,000 tears before Islam.
All the Jews living over the 1967 line will be welcomed in the free, open and democratic Palestine, the marvel for democracy in the Middle East. In fact we will allow them to hold dual nationality Palestine/Israel, and we will allow them to join our security forces, if they so choose. Of course they will need to speak Arabic but besides this, there are no other acceptance criteria...Viva Palestina.
The Palestinians can't live with each other, let alone with the Jews. Surely you know what's going on in the Muslim world, in Sudan, Libya, Yemen, Somalia, Pakistan, Afghanistan, Iraq, Iran, Burma, Algeria, Morocco, Syria, Egypt etc..give us a break.
No Jews allowed, just like jordan saudi the pa will be Judenrein. No Jews allowed is the often stated and written official policy. Minorities do not do well in muslim countries
You almost got me fooled there ...
that country would be the one stolen by people of many races who have religion as a common denominator...the same ones who, are, black, white, asian, dark, redheaded,blondes, brown hair...
be solved, and hopefully peacefully. Bottom line, it's a matter of human dignity and morality. What is the answer, I don't know. But there must be a resolution.
Countries come into existence. Think USA at 1776.
Didn't Yemen expel the last of it's Jews last year and order them never to return? Is Yemen backing the return to the 1967 borders?
The only possible and right answer to such a criminal policy is to announce and to adhere to our right for return to our stallen villages and cities in the occupied palestine.
have been since 637, honing the practice of Dhimmism and preventing the Jewish national liberation to their occupied land. Your 'right of return' is like giving back stolen goods to the original thief. At least the neo Romans and Greeks aren't back.
Hey you ! has Czechoslovakia returned the Sudetenland Land. or Poland the Oder Niesse. You start an aggressive war,You loose.You pay Very simple to understand for small heads like yours.And by the way the Land East of the Jordan River: 78% was earmarked for the Future Jewish State. Tell the Jordanians to SCRAM !
The only possible and right answer to such a criminal policy is to announce and to adhere to our right for return to our stallen villages and cities in the occupied palestine.
The only possible and right answer to such a criminal policy is to announce and to adhere to our right for return to our stallen villages and cities in the occupied palestine.
...hostile, aggressive and intransigent (just like Nabil Shaat and Mustafa Barghouti). And this attack on Israel is a desperate attempt to regain foothold within the palestinian powerstruggle. Some will try to be holier than the pope, others will prefer to be more militant than Hamas. I say - bye bye Erekat. You will not be an active partner of a future peacedeal.
Asyou sayL: aggresive and intrnsigent as the previus ones..not to mention arafat..Quite frankly they are once again turning the clock backwards..They will be the loosers in the end.. I too say,the invitable Bye bye Hamas 9in anycase who the would count them in anyway) Arch terrorists like them never change..(not saying Erekat was one) at least not openly..But then where do we find any of them who are NOT..
anyone remember "Jenin massacre"?
Oh please stop with the nonsense merry-go-around. Israel has never been in realistic peace talks with Palestinians
just anther day in the insane world of the palestinians where anything israel does is a war crime or some other crime against hmanity. The arabs cheapen the reality of the war crimes that do occur with their incessant phony claims. How come none of these cloesn has anything to say about war crimes in syria, libya or iran where unarmed protestoers are shot in the street. Maybe israel ought to follow in their footsteps to control ithe wst bank population. Reality is that compared to anyone else and certainly their arab brothers, the palestinians are the freest muslms in the world.
The whole world must know this betrayal of Pals by the colonizers. Action must be taken against these human rights violators.
Disgusting that you should bastardize that term to talk about a group of rabblerousers that have zero desire to live in a country run by another religion.
now head over to syira, iran, libya, lebanon and the rest of the arab world that prosecutes homosexuals, represses women, tortures minorities all in the name of allah. The arab countires are the single biggest block of war crimes states but because there are 1.6 billion muslims they are allowed to killl women and children in the name of islam and get away with it. The posters here are nothing more than apologists for the scurge of tyrants that rule the arab middle east. i guess arabs just can\t handle freedom ... too much responsibility.
now head over to syira, iran, libya, lebanon and the rest of the arab world that prosecutes homosexuals, represses women, tortures minorities all in the name of allah. The arab countires are the single biggest block of war crimes states but because there are 1.6 billion muslims they are allowed to killl women and children in the name of islam and get away with it. The posters here are nothing more than apologists for the scurge of tyrants that rule the arab middle east. i guess arabs just can\t handle freedom ... too much responsibility.
A war crime?. Estrange he didn't said was a Atomic Bomb and try to sue Israel for nuclear weapons :) With good reason he has the fame to be "The King of the exaggerations!". However, just talks :)
hypocrites
I'm glad you see the esteemed company with which Israel travels. How does that sit with you?
But when hamas throws living people to their death from a 4 store building thats a hobby When 800 are murdered while protesting in Syria, its barely an incident worth talking about
Your comments and stereotypes of arabs are laughable. You don't know much about arabs and it shows. Now are you honest enough to admit israel's policy is a crime, yes or no ? if not, stay in your own ignorance. Palestinians don't give a damn about your opinion. All what matters is their State. The rest is hot air.
Erekat has no credibility after being caught red-handed betraying the cause he was meant to be serving. He is simply trying to save his career so as not to lose out on a fat pension.
they say something - and then do something else.
Now that you're tossing around accusations, why not examine what Palestinians have done to Israelis. please and thanks
please tell us what palestinians have done to israelis........that's going to be a good laugh.
Palestinians are saint as a sheep never murdered anyone, never exploded in busy restaurants, never kidnapped and murdered kids in a kindergarten, or murder athletes in Olympics - everyone of them is an angel the only problem on earth is Israel... right?
But their "peace is the peace of the grave" For Israel And this is what it amounts to..Just because they are now thinking they will get a state.Nothing will change barring WAR once again..Will tjhey ever learn..Not EVER
or the many other Palestinian terrorist organizations? Or the Hebron massacre....shall I go on?
What about the rockets?? Oh , they really don't count
The whole of Palestine including Israel is Arab lands.
Which is why it's in Arabia
arabs are from arabia, not Israel.
In the very recent past Erekat was caught out negotiating from the position of giving up on the Palestinian's right of return. So what happened so soon? Has he been disowned by his paymasters or has he suddenly seen the light?