Following HaMoked’s petition against the intent to forcibly transfer a Palestinian resident of Hebron to the Gaza Strip due to his registered address, the state agreed to release him on bail: This after the state notified HaMoked that it was agreeable to doing so as there was no security related information regarding the detainee

The petitioner, married and father of two toddlers, has been living in Hebron since 2006 after he traveled from the Gaza Strip to the West Bank with a permit he received from Israel for the purposes of traveling through its territory. In the afternoon of 19 August 2009, when he arrived at a military checkpoint near Ramallah, the petitioner was detained and transferred to the temporary holding facility in Etzion. A warrant for his deportation to the Gaza Strip was issued due to his address in the population registry, namely, the Gaza Strip. The army informed HaMoked, which intervened in the matter at the family’s request, that the deportation was to take place on 23 August 2009. It is important to note that Israel does not allow the updating of a registered address in the population registry, as it froze any possibility of changing addresses from the Gaza Strip to the West Bank as early as in 2000.

In light of the matter’s urgency and the grave concern that the army might attempt to deport the petitioner to Gaza without giving him a chance to challenge the warrant, HaMoked filed a petition with the High Court of Justice (HCJ) on 20 August 2009. In addition to the petition, HaMoked attached an urgent request for an interim order forbidding the petitioner’s forcible transfer. Upon submission of the petition, the HCJ issued a temporary injunction forbidding the petitioner’s deportation pending a further decision on the matter.

On 27 August 2009, the military informed the court that it maintained that the petition must be rejected due to the petitioner’s registered address in the Gaza Strip. However, the army notified the court that since there was no negative security information regarding the petitioner, it did not object to his being released on bail pending a decision in his case. Following the state’s response, the court decided to allow the petitioner to deposit a 30,000 NIS bail.

This case is but one of many examples of this inhuman and unacceptable Israeli policy whose purpose is the forcible transfer of Palestinians living in the West Bank to Gaza, while cutting them off from their families, homes and lives. According to Israel’s policy, a registered address in Gaza effectively means a prohibition on entry into the West Bank and the loss of the right to live there.