 |
Trapped "by HASHKEM your New Jewish Agency"
|
|
Trapped By Professor Shmuel Neumann Phd., Advocate Jerusalem, Israel I was born in Czechoslovakia, as were my parents, and as were their parents. But my parents, having survived the evils of the Holocaust, were determined not to have to survive the evils of communism. So they fled Czechoslovakia, the only home any of us had ever known. And when, as a teenager, I discovered that three million Jews were kept against their will behind the Iron Curtain, I joined the first demonstration that became front page news internationally. Those demonstrations grew from a few activists to huge crowds repeatedly making their demands in front of the United Nations building in New York City. Finally, that once tiny movement pressured the Soviet Union to permit Soviet Jews to emigrate. The right of emigration, a basic human right memorialized in the UN Charter and Declaration of Human Rights was for the first time enforced with the Jackson-Vanik Amendment. Partly because of my family's escape, I empathize with other people who are trapped. And partly because of the successful staring down of the Soviet Union, I am a believer in the power of even a handful of right-minded people to change even an entrenched government policy.
As is described below, the Israeli government is engaged in a morally, politically and strategically wrong act: It is does not assist, does not protect, and too often because of security claims or bureaucratic red tape does not allow Palestinian Arabs to leave the embattled towns of Gaza, Judea and Samaria. The policy is so perverse, many will find the preceding statement implausible. But it is a fact, and it must be changed immediately. Israel should allow all Palestinian Arabs, except for known terrorists, to emigrate, should protect those who are seeking to leave, and, where appropriate, should assist in the purchase of land from Arabs desiring to sell. This should be a component of any peace proposal, and obviously must be the first part of any proposal involving the completion of the population exchange.
The Palestinian Arabs Do Not Have Long Standing Cultural or Family Connections to Judea, Samaria or Gaza.
"There was never a 'Palestinian Arab' nation. To the Arab people as a whole, no such entity as Palestine existed. Those few who lived within its bounds may have had an affinity for their village (and made war on the next village), for their clan (which fought for the right of local tax-gathering), or even for their town. They were not conscious of any relationship to a land, and even the townsmen would have heard of its existence as a land, if they heard of it at all, only from such Jews as they might meet. Palestine is mentioned only once in the Koran, as the 'Holy Land'- holy, that is, to Jews and Christians. In twelve hundred years of association, they built only a single town, Ramleh, established as the local subprovincial capital in the eighth century. The researchers of nineteenth-century scholars, beginning with the archaeologist Edward Robinson in 1838, revealed that hundreds of place-names of villages and sites, seemingly Arab, were Arabic renderings or translations of ancient Hebrew names, biblical or Talmudic."
"In the 1931 census, non-Jews in Palestine listed at least 24 different countries as their 'birthplace'! And that 23 different languages were used by the Muslim community. Plus an additional 28 by Christian Arabs. 51 languages spoken by Arabs! Palestine has never existed . . . as an autonomous entity. There is no language known as Palestinian. There is no distinct Palestinian culture. There has never been a land known as Palestine governed by Palestinians. Palestinians are Arabs, indistinguishable from Jordanians (another recent invention), Syrians, Lebanese, Iraqis, etc. …From the end of the Jewish state in antiquity to the beginning of British rule, the area now designated by the name Palestine was not a country and had no frontiers, only administrative boundaries." Professor, Bernard Lewis, Commentary Magazine, January 1975
"Travelers to Palestine from the Western world left records of what they saw there. The theme throughout their reports is dismal:
* The land was empty, neglected, abandoned, desolate, fallen into ruins. Nothing there [Jerusalem] to be seen but a little of the old walls which is yet remaining and all the rest is grass, moss and weeds. - English pilgrim in 1590
* The country is in a considerable degree empty of inhabitants and therefore its greatest need is of a body of population" -- British consul in 1857
* There is not a solitary village throughout its whole extent [valley of Jezreel] … not for 30 miles in either direction. . . . One may ride 10 miles hereabouts and not see 10 human beings.
* For the sort of solitude to make one dreary, come to Galilee . . . Nazareth is forlorn . . . Jericho lies a moldering ruin . . . Bethlehem and Bethany, in their poverty and humiliation . . . untenanted by any living creature . . . .
* A desolate country whose soil is rich enough, but is given over wholly to weeds . . a silent, mournful expanse . . . a desolation . . . . We never saw a human being on the whole route . . . . Hardly a tree or shrub anywhere. Even the olive tree and the cactus, those fast friends of a worthless soil, had almost deserted the country . . . .
* Palestine sits in sackcloth and ashes . . . desolate and unlovely . . . .-- Mark Twain, The Innocents Abroad, 1867
The restoration of the "desolate and unlovely" land began in the latter half of the Nineteenth Century with the first Jewish pioneers. Their labors created newer and better conditions and opportunities, which in turn attracted migrants from many parts of the Middle East, both Arabs and others." From Peters, J. "From Time Immemorial" by J. Peters J.KAP Publishing, 1985 reprint.
In large measure, the Palestinian Arabs' parents and grandparents came to what is now Israel in the early 20th Century. They came in the hope of finding better lives for themselves and their children in the budding Jewish state, where there were jobs aplenty and the future looked promising. In 1948, in Israel's War of Independence, the Jordanians captured Judea and Samaria. From that war through June, 1967, the Arabs living in what the Jordanians came to refer to as the "West Bank" were full fledged Jordanian citizens, and Arabs living in Gaza were full fledged Egyptian citizens.
In June of 1967, the Israelis and Arabs fought the Six Day War. At the conclusion of that war, this population numbered about 600,000 in Judea and Samaria and 400,000 in Gaza. (See Appendix A) For obvious reasons, they were unwanted by Israel. Nor were they wanted by Egypt or Jordan, for whom they represented Arab failure and shame. In 1988, the Jordanian government washed their hands of the Palestinians, stripping them of Jordanian citizenship
Although Palestinian passports were eventually issued, the Jordanian and Egyptian governments continued to also issue passports but they explicitly, by their law, striped them of their Egyptian and Jordanian citizenship. As a result, these now stateless Arabs redefined themselves as a new people, conscripting the name formerly used to refer to the Jews of the region -- the "Palestinians". In the process, they claimed a need for a country of their own, to be located only in Judea and Samaria (the erstwhile "West Bank") and Gaza, and not in the countries that stripped them of their citizenship. Eventually, some in their younger generations came to believe this fiction. Many others, including foreign governments, knew full well that the position was meritless, but nevertheless appreciated the potent political problem it presented for Israel and therefore embraced it. In matter of fact, UNRWA defines Palestinian refugees as persons, and their descendants, who resided in Palestine two years prior to the outbreak of hostilities in 1948. Thus was born the myth of a Palestinian Arab people tied to their beloved ancient homeland in the "West Bank" and Gaza.
No doubt, the myth of the Palestinian Arabs has proved enduring. But the truth cannot be denied. The Palestinian Arabs' roots in the area west of Jordan River are not deep, whether measured in years, in family contacts, or in cultural connections. Nor does the depth of their religious connection to Judea, Samaria and Gaza compare to their religious connections elsewhere in the Arab world, or to the Jews' connection to Eretz Israel in its entirety.
Many Palestinians Want to Emigrate.
The Palestinian Arabs have been treated as scapegoats for the Arab world, forced into poverty and the role of oppressed refugees by their own despotic and corrupt leadership, and exploited by Western countries seeking to curry favor with the oil rich countries of the Middle East. Therefore, when one also takes note of the lack of depth of the Palestinian Arabs' connection to Judea, Samaria and Gaza, it is not surprising that many Palestinian Arabs would like to leave. In fact, the overwhelming majority of Palestinian Arabs I have met want to do so.
My experience began before the start of the first intifada in 2000, when I lived in Shomron and shopped in nearby Arab villages. Although the Arabs and I spoke Hebrew to each other, because my American accent was so pronounced they invariably inquired about how they might move to America or another country. I referred these Palestinian Arabs to several qualified attorneys I knew and, as a result, successful emigrations were arranged. Word spread among the local Arabs that we were obtaining the sought after visas, and I received more calls. Thus, what began as casual encounters on shopping trips grew to providing solutions to a great many people who were trapped and desperately wanted to leave. Their plight was made still more poignant for me because I had recently moved to Israel and the experience of immigrating -- both highs and lows -- was fresh in my mind. I knew that as difficult as it was for me and my family to immigrate to Israel, it is harder for the Palestinian Arabs to emigrate from Israel.
They were so ready to leave that on at least one occasion they openly voiced their aspirations to a foreign television crew. (For the reasons described below, this was an act of true courage by those Arabs.) On November 24, 2002, I escorted a Russian news crew to an interview with the director of a new group assisting Arabs seeking to emigrate from Israel. The crew stopped in a village to ask the local Arabs what they thought about Jews helping Palestinian Arabs to emigrate. Their answer? A large crowd of Arabs asked for information on how too they could get out. They did this in front of the television cameras, for a show that was broadcast on some 160 Russian speaking news stations.
Migration: Natural Adaptation to Catastrophes
It is as natural as breathing. All mobile living creatures have evolved the most basic survival skill of learning to anticipate danger, escape from noxious environments, avoid threatening ones, and approach safe and fertile ones. In fact, adaptation is the most fundamental principal in ethology. Throughout the entire phylo-genetic scale, from mobile single cell animals to man all animals distance themselves from danger and approach safer and more fertile environments in order to ensure survival of the individual and of the species. Those species that did not develop these rudimentary survival skills became extinct.
Of all creatures, man has the greatest resilience. One of the most compelling demonstrations of adaptability was the migration of holocaust survivors. There is no greater tragedy to any people on this earth than the holocaust. Yet, without become dependent welfare parasites, the survivors of concentration camps moved on and rebuilt their lives. They did not gravitate into refugee camps expecting the United Nations to send them a monthly check in perpetuity for themselves, their children, their grandchildren, etc. Nor did they publicly bemoan their fate but courageously and with dignity moved to greener pastures, opened businesses or took any jobs to put food on their table.
My parents were extremely wealthy in post-war Czechoslovakia. I had four or five child care workers who played with me and took care of me, in addition to the dozens of home attendants cleaning, cooking, etc. But when the communists took over and initiated a campaign of anti-Semitism in order to solicit local support, my parents decided that it is best to migrate, and we did. Although my father was a dentist in Europe, he took a laborers job, and for years worked in a filthy basement. All of the children worked and we never took welfare nor any charity but lived on whatever we were able to make, which in certain years was marginal. Yet, in later years he was able to support several families.
There are many Palestinians that demonstrated the courage and resilience to move after the Arab Legion lost several wars. Egypt and Jordan attacked Israel in 1948 and gained the West Bank and Gaza and then lost it 1967. Many West Bank and Gaza residents moved, but their own countries turned them into refugees, forced them to live in squalor and UNESO determined that they and their progeny are entitled to monthly cash stipends, apparently, in perpetuity. The Arab residents of the West Bank are all Jordanian citizens and the Arab residents of Gaza are Egyptian citizens. Yet when Jordanian citizens who were West Bank residents moved into Jordan, they deemed "displaced" persons and entitled to monetary stipends. Similarly, Gaza Egyptians that moved to Egypt were similarly handed a refugee card, and also received monthly checks from the UN. This subsidy evolved into a counter-productive dependency.
Whoever determined that Palestinians deserve to be supported forever did not do them a service. The so called Palestinians fell into the welfare trap. They did not move out of the squalor of the refugee camps in order to re-build their live, because they were afraid of forfeiting the UN subsidies. Although many of the young eventually moved and were prosperous in their new countries, most remained and discovered that work was not only unnecessary, but by working, they would receive less. This is a downward spiral dooming generations into non-productive lives. The subsidies for the fourth generation descendents of Palestinian refugees should finally stop. It is in their best interests to compel them to become self-sufficient. The United Nations must also be pressured to coerce those nations that created the Palestinian Refugee camps to grant citizenship to those born in their country or facilitate their emigration to greener pastures.
Welfare dependency has contributed to the current nightmare. The United Nations has conditioned the Palestinian sense of entitlement. Furthermore, certain Israeli governments actually seemed to accept the Palestinians self proclaimed entitlement. When the intifada started, during Barak's tenure, the Israeli government appeared to actually condone killing Israeli citizens. Several officials of the Labor Party and Meretz openly and repeatedly declared that it was the settler's own fault that they were killed.
The past and current Israeli and American Administrations, as well as the Palestinians are locked in strategies that are dead ends. Oslo is a failure as is the Palestinian attempt to defeat Israel. Renaming Oslo, Roadmap or Geneva Accords does not change its substance as renaming war to intifada does not change its substance. The Palestinians lost the war. They and the rest of the world need other resolutions to the intractable conflict. At this point, most Palestinians wish to move to greener pastures.
Israel Fails To Protect Palestinian Arabs Seeking to Leave and In Some Cases Prevents Palestinian Arabs From Leaving.
The prospect of large scale emigration is a threat to the Palestinian extremists, including the Palestinian Authority. Their wealth, and their relevance, is directly tied to the continued existence of the Palestinian Arabs' misery. Therefore, to the best of their ability, they will not let that misery end. For the Palestinian Arabs, this means a policy of death threats for anyone selling his house or land to Jews. Death is also the prescribed punishment for anyone seeking to emigrate.
Since Palestinian Arabs who are unable to liquidate their assets seldom have the financial resources to emigrate, they are prevented from being in a position even to consider such a move. And, as the reader might know already from other sources, those threats are carried out and would-be sellers and émigrés are murdered.
Israel should do everything in its power to help the Palestinian Arabs to emigrate. Unfortunately, the Israeli government has not done so. Almost unbelievably, Israeli government bureaucracy makes it difficult for these Arabs to leave. For example, many Palestinian Arabs cannot get emigration visas because, even after their papers submitted are deemed to be in order, they must obtain a one day pass to Tel Aviv to be interviewed by an official of the foreign embassy. Because of security concerns, those passes are not easily acquired. In this respect, the effect of Israel's bureaucracy is reminiscent of the effects of the policy of the Soviet Union, which for decades withheld exit visas of Jews seeking to exercise their basic human right of emigration. With limited exceptions, those Palestinian Arabs who wish to emigrate from Judea, Samaria and Gaza should be permitted the equivalent of an exit visa.
Even if would-be émigrés succeed in obtaining immigration visas, and further assuming that they have the financial resources to emigrate, they still need clearance from the Israeli security forces to leave. However, Israel frequently denies approval for their emigration requests, citing security concerns. The Israeli government will not approve the exit of those Arabs who are known terrorists or are suspected of being affiliated with terrorist organizations. Further, it will not approve the emigration of Arabs who are in positions allowing them to provide Israel with important information.
Great deference must be paid to Israel's assessment of its security needs. Nevertheless, with the exception of its refusal to allow known terrorists to emigrate, Israel is acting against its own best interests when it prevents these Palestinian Arabs from leaving. Broad interpretations of these security considerations are counter-productive.
More Should Be Done
Israel must insist upon equality under the law. Palestinian Arabs must be guaranteed the right to sell their homes and land to Jews, as well as to emigrate. In the event that Moslem clerics or others threaten potential Palestinian Arab sellers or émigrés, they must be prosecuted for incitement, conspiracy to commit murder, making terrorist threats, and any other applicable crime under Israel's criminal code. Further, any group that impedes fair trade practices must be held accountable and fined. If any person or Palestinian group kills an Arab who sells to Jews, then Israel must prosecute that murder in the same manner that it would prosecute the murder of an Israeli. This should not require any new or special laws, just the willingness to treat the Palestinian Arabs as being entitled to engage in these acts - acts which also serve Israeli interests as well as the overall prospect for peace.
As necessary, Israel should assist the sale of the properties and emigration by developing methods of obtaining required approvals from the Israeli Government that do not require the posting of bonds, or the crossing of checkpoints at all. And Israel should offer protective custody for the prospective seller or émigré, as well as his family, whether closely related or remote, who desire that protection.
Conclusion
Mankind has resilience. The survivors of concentration camps moved on to build new lives despite the horrific decimation of their family, community and culture. If they were able to resettle and prosper, certainly the progeny of Arab migrant workers who in the 20th century moved to so-called Palestine because of a promising labor market can move on and rebuild their lives. They should be permitted to escape this intractable conflict and raise their children with idealistic standards of contributing to society, rather than being coerced into indoctrination of becoming human bombs. It serves neither the short or long term interest of either the Arabs or Israelis to obstruct Palestinian emigration.
There are numerous abandoned towns lying fallow in Canada and North-West United States that these emigrants crave to develop and farm. In addition, the million Jews that emigrated from the former Soviet Union to Israel left a housing stock that could easily be utilized by Palestinian emigrants. It is a win-win-win situation that is in the best interests of all. Not only must the obstructions to their emigration be removed, but their emigration should be facilitated on both humanitarian as well as, pragmatic considerations.
The current American and Israeli administrations, as well as the Palestinians are locked in adaptation strategies that are dead ends. Oslo is a failure as is the Palestinian attempt to defeat Israel. In order to end this intractable conflict, we are left with no other adaptation strategy of permitting and, ideally, facilitating the emigration of all Palestinians on both sides of the green line. We have a moral and pragmatic imperative to "Help the Palestinians Out".
Appendix A
Appendix B WHAT DOES "PALESTINE" MEAN?
However, when Great Britain's protigi Emir Abdullah was forced to leave the ancestral Hashemite domain in Arabia, the British created a realm for him that included all of Manfate Palestine east of the Jordan River. There was no traditional or historic Arab name for this land, so it was called after the river: first Trans-Jordan and later Jordan. By this political act, that violated the conditions of the Balfour Declaration and the Mandate, the British cut more than 75 percent out of the Jewish National Home. No Jew has ever been permitted to reside in Trans-Jordan/Jordan. Less than 25 percent then remained of Mandate Palestine, and even in this remnant, the British violated the Balfour and Mandate requirements for a "Jewish National Home" and for "close Jewish settlement". They progressively restricted where Jews could buy land, where they could live, build, farm or work. After the Six-Day War in 1967, Israel was finally able to settle some small part of those lands from which the Jews had been debarred by the British. Successive British governments regularly condemn their settlement as "illegal". In truth, it was the British who had acted illegally in banning Jews from these parts of the Jewish National Home. Acknowlegements The author wishes to thank David Fruchtman for his editorial assistance and Adam Halley for his research assistance.
[1]"Everyone has the right to leave any country, including his own, and to return to his country." Universal Declaration of Human Rights (Article 13(2)). "State Parties undertake to prohibit and to eliminate racial discrimination on all its forms and to guarantee the right of everyone, without distinction as to race, color, or national or ethnic origin, to equality before the law, notably in the enjoyment of the right to leave any country, including one's own, and to return to one's country." International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination: (Article 5(d)(ii)).
[2] Samuel Katz, Battleground: Fact and Fantasy in Palestine See http://www.eretzyisroel.org/~samuel/arabclaims.html,
[3] Egypt will currently issue new Palestinian travel papers! Palestinians have both Palestinian and Egyptian or Jordanian. See http://www.egy2000.com/ft51l.htm [4] For text of King Hussein's decree see http://www.kinghussein.gov.jo/88_july31.html [5] "Jordanians with full citizenship receive passports that are valid for 5 years. Most Palestinians living in Jordan are citizens and receive passports that are valid for 5 years. However, approximately 150,000 Palestinian residents--most refugees or children of refugees who arrived from Gaza after 1967--do not qualify for citizenship. They receive 2-year passports valid for travel only. Following the countryâs administrative and legal disengagement from the West Bank in 1988, Palestinians residing in the West Bank received 2-year passports valid for travel only, instead of the 5-year Jordanian passport that they had received previously. In October 1995, King Hussein announced that West Bank residents without other travel documentation would again be eligible to receive 5-year passports. However, the Government has stressed that these passports are for travel only and do not connote citizenship, which only can be shown by presenting one's "national number," a civil registration number accorded at birth or upon naturalization to persons holding citizenship. The national number is recorded on national identity cards and in family registration books, which are issued only to Jordanian citizens. Following a successful lawsuit in December 1997 by a West Bank resident who, prior to 1988, had held a Jordanian passport (the authorities had refused to issue the plaintiff a new passport), the authorities have begun to issue 5-year Jordanian passports to those who are deemed to be noncitizens of Palestinian origin. However, such residents do not enjoy the rights of citizens because they have no national number. All Palestinians must obtain permits from the Ministry of the Interior for travel between Jordan and the Israeli-occupied territories. Such permission is granted routinely." http://www.usembassy-amman.org.jo/2HumanR.html
[6] "There is no such country as Palestine. 'Palestine' is a term the Zionists invented. . . . Our country was for centuries part of Syria. 'Palestine' is alien to us. It is the Zionists who introduced it." Local Arab leader to British Peel Commission, 1937
Finally, in 1964, the Palestine Liberation Movement was founded. Ahmed Shukairy, who less than 10 years earlier had denied the existence of Palestine, was its first chairman. Its charter proclaimed its sole purpose to be the destruction of Israel. To that end it helped to precipitate the Arab attack on Israel in 1967. The outcome of that attack then inspired an alteration in public rhetoric. As propaganda, it sounds better to speak of the liberation of Falastin than of the destruction of Israel. Much of the world, governments and media and public opinion, accept virtually without question of serious analysis the new-sprung myth of an Arab nation of Falastin, whose territory is unlawfully occupied by the Jews. Since the end of World War I, the Arabs of the Middle East and North Africa have been given independent states in 99.5 percent of the land they claimed. Lord Balfour once expressed his hope that when the Arabs had been given so much, they would "not begrudge" the Jews the "little notch" promised to them. [8] To, the Mamluks who, in 1250, followed the Crusader Christian interregnum, Palestine had no existence even as a subentity. Its territory was divided administratively, as part of a conquered empire, according to convenience. Its variegated peoples were treated as objects for exploitation, with a mixture of hostility and indifference. Some Arab tribes collaborated with the Mamluks in the numerous internal struggles that marked their rule. But the Arabs had no part or direct influence in the regime. Like all the other inhabitants of the country, they were conquered subjects and were treated accordingly. Philip K. Hitti, History of the Arabs, 9th ed. (New York, 1967),, pp. 286-287 according to an official British handbook, prepared under the direction of the historical section of the (British) Foreign Office, no. 60, entitled "Syria and Palestine" (London, 1920), p. 56. "The people west of the Jordan are not Arabs, but only Arabic-speaking. The bulk of the population are fellahin.... In the Gaza district they are mostly of Egyptian origin; elsewhere they are of the most mixed race." "The fact is that today's Palestinians are immigrants from the surrounding nations! I grew up well knowing the history and origins of today's Palestinians as being from Yemen, Saudi Arabia, Morocco, Christians from Greece, Muslim Sherkas from Russia, Muslims from Bosnia, and the Jordanians next door. The civil and tribal wars between Yemmenites (from Yemen) and Kessites (from Banu Kais of Saudi Arabia) ... are well known among Palestinians. Countries of origin and languages spoken: http://www.eretzyisroel.org/~peters/mixed.html
[9] In a study involving Palestinian refugees from the Ain Al-Hilwa camp near Sidon, Hilal Khashan found that 98 percent of the respondents wished to emigrate to the West. Hilal Khashan, "The Despairing Palestinians," Journal of South Asian and Middle Eastern Studies, Fall 1992, p. 16.
[10] NTV, a Russian language news team. Alexander Shabataiv, Newscaster, Sergei, reporter.
[11] Assisted Emigration Services, located in Jerusalem. They can be reached at Post Office Box 34217, Jerusalem, 03-5772082.
[12].Symons, D. 1990. Adaptiveness and adaptation. Ethology and Sociobiology 11(Special issue): 427—444.
[13] "Our law is a Jordanian law that we inherited, which applies to both the West Bank and Gaza, and sets the death penalty for those who sell land to Israelis.... We are talking about a few traitors, and we shall implement against them what is written in the law books. It is our right and our obligation to defend our land." Palestinian Authority Chairman Yasser Arafat (Yediot Aharonot, 21 May 1997) "We are taking forceful steps against those who do this. Recently, a decision was passed to punish anyone who sells land, property or homes. We are keeping track of land dealers and punishing them." Palestinian Authority Chairman Yasser Arafat in an interview with a Lebanese newspaper (Al-Hawadath, May 16, 1997)
"Our law is a Jordanian law that we inherited, which applies to both the West Bank and Gaza, and sets the death penalty for those who sell land to Israelis... We are talking about a few traitors, and we shall implement against them what is written in the law books. It is our right and our obligation to defend our land." Palestinian Authority Chairman Yasser Arafat in an interview with an Israeli newspaper (Yediot Ahronot, May 21, 1997)
"The Palestinian leadership listened to a report regarding the fact that a number of land speculators have sold, via foreign intermediaries, Palestinian land to foreign companies, which are in fact Israeli companies working in the framework of the settlement plans being carried out by the Israeli government. The Palestinian leadership has decided to forbid the sale of land anywhere in Palestine either directly or via intermediaries. The leadership has empowered the legal authorities and security forces to implement the decision on this matter and to punish anyone who has sold land directly or has assisted in its sale. The sale of land constitutes the gravest danger concerning the Judaization of the Palestinian lands." The Palestinian Authority Cabinet in a cabinet decision passed at its weekly meeting in Ramallah on May 2-3, 1997 (Voice of Palestine, May 3, 1997)
"This is a very dangerous act and there has been a decision to ban it by putting anyone who sells even a centimeter on swift trial and to seek the death penalty against them... These people are traitors and Israel exploits them in expanding its settlements." Palestinian Authority Justice Minister Freih Abu Middein in an interview (Agence France Presse, May 5, 1997)
"I warned the land dealers several times through the media not to play with fire. For us, whoever sells land to Jews and settlers is more dangerous than collaborators. Therefore, they must be put on trial and sentenced to death... they are traitors." Palestinian Authority Justice Minister Freih Abu Middein in an interview with an Israeli newspaper (Yediot Ahronot, May 20, 1997) "Expect the unexpected... nobody from this moment will accept any traitor who sells his land to Israelis." Palestinian Authority Justice Minister Freih Abu Middein cited in The Washington Post, May 20, 1997 "Whoever is found to have sold land to Jews, his punishment is death. It is forbidden to pray for him, it is forbidden to purify his body before burial, and it is forbidden to bury him in a Muslim cemetery. We are obligated to remind the public of this religious law, so as not to allow Jews to purchase Arab land and property with dollars they receive from America in order to throw us out of this land." Palestinian Authority Mufti Ikrama Sabri in an interview with an Israeli newspaper (Yediot Ahronot, May 20, 1997) "The Zionist entity exists on seized land. The Jews remain enemies because they expropriate lands, build settlements and pay high sums to buy properties. They are the greatest enemies of us Muslims." Palestinian Authority Mufti Ikrama Sabri in a newspaper interview (The New York Times, May 18, 1997) "We condemn this abhorrent crime and emphasize that despite all the conspiracies, Jerusalem and Palestine from the river to the sea will remain Islamic until judgment day... A land speculator for the Jews, in whose birth certificate it states that he is a Muslim, was killed. There is a possibility that his body will be brought to Al-Aksa mosque or another mosque. We wish to remind you that Islamic law forbids the washing and wrapping in shrouds of his body and forbids praying for his soul or burying him in a Muslim cemetery. We call upon you to beware. This should serve as a lesson to all traitors and speculators who collaborate with the Jews." Palestinian Authority Mufti Ikrama Sabri in his weekly sermon at Al-Aksa Mosque on the Temple Mount (Voice of Palestine, May 9, 1997) http://world.std.com/~camera/docs/backg/land-pa.html Such extraterritorial threats receive added weight from the reported formation by the PA of a shadowy force known as "The Long Arm," whose task is to track down and execute Palestinians living anywhere in the world if they have sold land to Israeli Jews. (Al-Arab al-Yawm, 17 May 1997 as translated in BBCSWB).
See http://www.mfa.gov.il/mfa/go.asp?MFAH08jk0Fatah's Aksa Martyrs Brigades distributed leaflets in Jerusalem on Wednesday threatening to execute Palestinians who sell their property to Jews or act as intermediaries in such deals. "The Aksa Martyrs Brigades warn those thieves and traitors who are selling [Arab-owned] lands through Israeli real estate agents," said the leaflets, some of which were distributed on the Temple Mount. Shortly after the warning, Fatah activists and Palestinian Authority security agents kidnapped and killed six Arabs from Jerusalem after accusing them of selling lands and houses to in Arab neighborhoods of Jerusalem to Jewish groups. The bullet-riddled bodies of some of the victims were found near Ramallah. Khaled Abu Toameh, Fatah gangs vow to kill Palestinians selling land to Jews, Jerusalem Post, Oct. 24, 2003
[14] The decisions have no legal guidelines but are discretionary and up to the individual security officer. There is no right of appeal.
[15] "Getting out of West Bank: As the Israeli authorities control all of the crossing points into Jordan, they can deny passage on security grounds. In principle, however, Palestinians with West Bank identification cards can go to Jordan without crossing through Israel. Since the Cairo Agreement of May 1994 between the PLO and Israel, Israel no longer requires West Bankers to obtain special permits to go to Jordan. They must leave on a valid Palestinian Authority travel document issued by the PA after clearance by Israel. Until September 2000, these West Bankers could travel from Ben Gurion airport (Tel Aviv) after obtaining a special Israeli "airport permit". Since the outbreak of the current conflict (Intifada), such one-time permits are only issued in exceptional cases, usually on humanitarian grounds. Very few ever had access to the now-closed Palestinian airport in Gaza mainly because Israeli permits to enter Gaza are rarely issued to West Bankers, even to visit close family.
Getting out of Gaza: If there are no curfews or closures in Gaza, Palestinians with Gaza identification cards who have already obtained a magnetic card and an entry permit into Israel, can probably leave the Gaza Strip for Jordan or abroad through Ben Gurion airport. Airport departure requires the same permit procedure as described above for West Bankers although it is more difficult to obtain airport permits from Gaza than from West Bank. Until the Palestinian airport was closed and the runway destroyed three years ago, Gazans could leave that way. Israel controls the only crossing point into Egypt (Rafah) and may deny passage on security grounds. At some times the Rafah crossing is closed and on other days is only open for limited hours. To successfully cross, however, Palestinians must have a valid but difficult to obtain Egyptian visa even if an individual can get to an Egyptian embassy. (From 1948-1967, Gaza was under Egyptian administration which issued a travel document for Palestinians in Gaza but this Egyptian document required its holder to have a visa to enter or even transit Egypt.)" http://electronicintifada.net/v2/article2132.shtml
[16] "For alleged security reasons, young Palestinians under 35 years no longer receive visas to travel abroad or even to move from one city of the Occupied Palestinian Territory to another. Hospital gates are often blocked by tanks preventing doctors and nurses from entering the premises. An increasing number of ambulances are made to wait for hours at the checkpoints, even when they transport injured or old ill people in need of urgent treatment. It is also reported that a number of expecting mothers could not reach the nearest hospital in time and gave birth at checkpoints under disastrous hygienic conditions. Many secondary school students failed to reach the examination centres in time for their yearly exams in June, as they had to cross many checkpoints and travel roundabout routes. About 200 taxis and sometimes even ambulances are hired to transport students. Taxi drivers are imposed considerable fines for using roads forbidden to public. It is difficult to provide precise statistics on the number of students concerned, but in one instance a group of 23 students was involved. Some of these students may have authorized access to their schools one day and be denied access the next, causing them to repeat the full curriculum the following year. Report of the Special Committee to Investigate Israeli Practices Affecting the Human Rights of the Palestinian People and Other Arabs of the Occupied Territories, UNITED NATIONS General Assembly, Distr. A/58/311, 22 August 2003, Fifty-eighth session Item 85 of the provisional agenda. See http://domino.un.org/unispal.nsf/0/1ba31278a7b35a9485256dc800512b88?OpenDocument
[17] Currently a supreme court case brought by attorney Michael Teplow will force the government to create legal guidelines.
"HASHKEM YISRAEL-WAKE UP ISRAEL"
AND TAKE CONTROL OF OUR DESTINY
Copyright © HASHKEM, A California Corporation 2007
Page last updated 29 Sivan 5767 - 15 June 2007
|
