Accusing Palestinians in Jerusalem of law violation, Israel commits war crime by revoking their residency
Israel revokes the residency status of the Palestinians accusing them of violating the laws, punishing them, as well as their families. Since the beginning of Jerusalem’s occupation in 1967, Israel has revoked the residency of 15,000 Palestinians, and forced them to live like foreigners in their own country or to migrate. Israel annulled the Palestinians’ residence permits charging them with disloyalty to the state. Omar Shakir, Israel and Palestine Director at Human Rights Watch (HRW), states that international humanitarian law strictly forbids an occupant power to displace people from their homes or to pledge their loyalty to the occupant power.
FOREIGNERS IN THEIR OWN LAND
The revoking of their residency push Palestinians to leave Jerusalem. The report prepared by Human Rights Watch notes that deportation or forced migration of any part of the population of an occupied territory could amount to war crimes under the laws of the International Criminal Court. The report was prepared by studying eight families cases, whose residencies in Jerusalem have been revoked. While Tel Aviv increases the Jewish population in Jerusalem, they conduct a masterplan aiming to reduce the number of Palestinians in the city. According to the report, residency revocations are part of a range of policies that include unlawful settlement expansion, home demolitions, and restrictions on buildings in the city that have shifted the demographics in East Jerusalem. Therefore, the Jewish settlement has rapidly increased.
Sarah Leah Whitson, Middle East director at Human Rights Watch, said Israeli authorities force Palestinians in Jerusalem to live like foreigners in their own cities.
“Israel claims to treat Jerusalem as a unified city, but the reality is effectively one set of rules for Jews and another for Palestinians,” she added.
FOREIGNERS IN THEIR OWN LAND
The revoking of their residency push Palestinians to leave Jerusalem. The report prepared by Human Rights Watch notes that deportation or forced migration of any part of the population of an occupied territory could amount to war crimes under the laws of the International Criminal Court. The report was prepared by studying eight families cases, whose residencies in Jerusalem have been revoked. While Tel Aviv increases the Jewish population in Jerusalem, they conduct a masterplan aiming to reduce the number of Palestinians in the city. According to the report, residency revocations are part of a range of policies that include unlawful settlement expansion, home demolitions, and restrictions on buildings in the city that have shifted the demographics in East Jerusalem. Therefore, the Jewish settlement has rapidly increased.
Sarah Leah Whitson, Middle East director at Human Rights Watch, said Israeli authorities force Palestinians in Jerusalem to live like foreigners in their own cities.
“Israel claims to treat Jerusalem as a unified city, but the reality is effectively one set of rules for Jews and another for Palestinians,” she added.
Attack in Gaza
The Israeli army on Wednesday launched two airstrikes in the blockaded Gaza Strip. Israel used F-35 fighter jets in the attack, recently purchased from the United States, the Jerusalem Post reported. The head of al-Shifa hospital’s emergency department, Ayman al-Sahbani, said that three Palestinians were wounded in two different Israeli attacks on Gaza. Al-Sahbani stated one of the wounded Palestinians, who was hit by shrapnel from the blast, was seriously injured. Israeli army’s fighter jets launched two rocket attacks in some fields in northern Gaza, and some buildings in the region had material damage, witnesses said.
