On Tuesday 14 October 2003, the Israeli Forces Commander of the “Middle Area” ordered the exile of 15 Palestinians from the West Bank to the Gaza Strip.
The order included the detention of the subjects for 48 hours at the Erez Crossing (north Gaza) in order to enable them to appeal the order.
According to information collected by human rights organizations in the West Bank, the people in question are: Rami Fawaz Hajiji – Ramallah; detained at the Ayalon prison, Samir Subhi Badir – Ramallah; detained at the Ketziot detention center, Samir Abu Zeena – Hebron; detained at the Ketziot detention center, Taha Ramadan Dwaik – Hebron; detained at the Ketziot detention center, Munthir Al Ju’ba – Hebron; detained at the Ketziot detention center, Ahmad Hussain Mishqah – Jenin; detained in K’tziut detention center, Mustafa Hussain Abid – Nablus; detained at the Ketziot detention center, Raja Atallah Hirzallah – Bethlehem; detained at the Ketziot detention center, Hani Hamdi Al Rajabi – Hebron; detained at the Ufar prison, Lu’ai Muhammad Dawud –Qalqilya; detained at the Ketziot detention center, Husam Abdul Qadir Udeh – Tulkarem; detained at the Ketziot detention center, Shadi Ismail Ayyash – Nablus; detained at the Ketziot detention center, Nasir Yousif Salama – Bethlehem; detained at the Ketziot detention center, Rasim Khatab Mustafa – Nablus; held at Majidu [Meggido] prison, The subjects were sentenced to administrative detention for unspecified periods of time.
Israel has brought no formal charges against them.
This illegal order comes during the current Intifada, although such practices were common well before it.
The Occupation Forces deported 13 Palestinians from the Church of the Nativity to countries in Europe and 26 others to the Gaza Strip in May 2002.
They also transferred Kifah and Intisar Ajouri to the Gaza Strip in September 2002 and Mahmud As Sa’di in May 2003.
There were five other transfers to Gaza that same year.
The Al Mezan Center for Human Rights reminds that these orders constitute war crimes under the International Humanitarian Law.
They add to the illegal administrative detention of the victims detained without due process of the law.
The Al Mezan Center condemns Israel’s deportation orders against Palestinians and calls upon the international community, particularly the High Contracting Parties to the 4th Geneva Convention, to intervene and put an end to Israel’s grave breaches of the Convention in the Occupied Palestinian Territories.
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