Center for the Defence of the Individual - Urgent appeal against the forcible transfer of a Palestinian from the West Bank to the Gaza Strip, on the grounds that his registered address is in Gaza: The military's decision to deport a man from his home, where he resides lawfully, to the Gaza Strip, constitutes a blatant violation of Israeli and international law
العربية HE wheel chair icon
חזרה לעמוד הקודם
12.04.2009

Urgent appeal against the forcible transfer of a Palestinian from the West Bank to the Gaza Strip, on the grounds that his registered address is in Gaza: The military's decision to deport a man from his home, where he resides lawfully, to the Gaza Strip, constitutes a blatant violation of Israeli and international law

The petitioner, a Palestinian who was born in the Gaza Strip, relocated to the West Bank in 1995. Over the years, he married and had two children in the West Bank. The man is employed as a police officer by the Palestinian Authority (PA) and has not visited Gaza since 1996. On 26 March 2009, the army arrested the petitioner in his own home, and a "removal order" was issued against him, on the grounds of "illegal presence" in the West Bank.

HaMoked appealed to the office of the Military Legal Advisor for the West Bank on behalf of the family, in a demand to stop the removal proceedings; the response stated that the petitioner would be transferred to Gaza on 30 March 2009. That same evening, HaMoked submitted an urgent petition to the HCJ in an attempt to prevent the petitioner's forcible transfer to Gaza.

The petitioners claim that this is a radical and unreasonable decision, which will tear a man, who has a family and is the father of young children, from his loved ones and from the place he has chosen as the center of his life. The petitioners also stress that the forcible transfer of a Palestinian, whose presence in the occupied territory is completely lawful, constitutes a grave infringement on his right, and the right of his loved ones, to family life, as well as on many other rights to which they are entitled as protected residents of the occupied territory, and which are entrenched in international humanitarian law. The petitioners further emphasize their concern that the petitioner's forcible transfer to Gaza, now controlled by Hamas, may cost him his life, in light of his service as a PA police officer. Additionally, the petitioners note that no hearing was held for the petitioner, in which he could have argued his case against the decision, prior to its being reached.

Following the petition, the HCJ issued a temporary injunction prohibiting the army from transferring the detainee to Gaza until a further court decision.

To view the petition dated 19 March 2009 (Hebrew)