Center for the Defence of the Individual - Amended petition against the permit regime in the "seam zone'": HaMoked: Center for the Defence of the Individual petitions against the apartheid regime instituted by Israel, that effectively creates two distinct groups within the seam zone: Israelis and tourists, who freely enter, move about and leave the zone; and Palestinians, who require permits to enter, work and sleep in the zone.
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חזרה לעמוד הקודם
06.04.2006

Amended petition against the permit regime in the "seam zone'": HaMoked: Center for the Defence of the Individual petitions against the apartheid regime instituted by Israel, that effectively creates two distinct groups within the seam zone: Israelis and tourists, who freely enter, move about and leave the zone; and Palestinians, who require permits to enter, work and sleep in the zone.

On April 6, 2006 HaMoked filed an amended petition against Israel’s permit regime in the “seam zone”. The regime constitutes a legal apartheid, in effect creating two kinds of inhabitants within the zone: Israelis and tourists, who do not come under the declaration on the closure of the “seam zone” and who freely enter, move about and leave the zone; and others – namely Palestinians – who do come under the declaration and require various permits to enter, work in, sleep in and leave the area. The petition marks out the extensive similarity between the permit regime and the pass laws instituted in South Africa during the apartheid. The petitioners determine that the permit regime violates international humanitarian law and the laws of occupation so gravely, that its implementation may be considered a war crime. Additionally, it is a gross violation of the provisions of international human rights law which Israel has undertaken to uphold, and the basic tenets of Israeli administrative and constitutional laws.

The permit regime is, in effect, the second and complementary aspect of the separation wall. While the wall serves as a physical barrier which prevents protected civilians from reaching their lands, relatives and friends, the permit regime erects a shameful normative infrastructure, unparalleled in Israeli law and imposes punishments on those breaching its provisions.