Implementation of Amended Military Orders may lead to Undefined and Limitless Illegal Deportations of Protect Persons from the West Bank - Civic Coalition for Defending Palestinian Rights in Jerusalem

For Immediate Release


On 13 April 2010, Israeli Military authorities implemented “the Order regarding Prevention of Infiltration (Amendment No.2)” and “the Order regarding Security Provisions (Amendment No.112)”. The military orders (Order Number 1650) were signed approximately six-months prior by Major General Gadi Shamni, who at the time served as the IDF’s General Commander in the West Bank. In addition to facilitating the potential deportation of tens of thousands of Palestinians the amended orders will criminalize the presence of the affected Palestinians and will carry a maximum prison sentence of seven years.

The newly implemented Military Orders amend the definition of ‘Infiltrator’, defined in the original 1969 Order as “A person who entered the Area [West Bank] knowingly and unlawfully after having been present in the east bank of the Jordan [sic], Syria, Egypt, or Lebanon following the effective date.” Section 1B of the current order replaces and notably broadens the former definition to include, “a person who entered the area [West Bank] unlawfully following the effective date, or a person who is present in the area [West Bank] and does not lawfully hold a permit.”


The formulation of the second stipulation in the amended definition - ‘a person who is present in the area and does not lawfully hold a permit’ - is both vague and broad in its potential application. As such its implementation may carry severe ramifications to much of the West Bank’s Palestinian population. At present the Order’s language makes it impossible to positively ascertain exactly who will come under the new definition of an infiltrator however it appears that certain groups are at particular risk.


Approximately 25,000 Gazans live in the West Bank while many other Palestinian residents in the West Bank carry identification cards from neighbouring countries or list Gaza as their original place of residence. Additionally, West Bank residents married to a Palestinian who at one time lived in a refugee camp established in a neighbouring country or were born abroad may also lack the necessary documentation. Furthermore, East Jerusalemites awaiting family reunification decisions after having married a spouse from the West Bank are now placed in a precarious position.


The ambiguity surrounding their situation derives from the Orders’ failure to provide certainty as to what constitutes a ‘lawful permit’. To date the vast majority of Palestinian residents in the West Bank have not been required to obtain any form of residency permit.




The potential scope of these Orders may be virtually infinite in their application. Along with Gazan-born Palestinians, foreign-spouses, and Palestinians from refugee camps in the neighbouring countries, foreign workers (including NGO and Development staff) and individuals who participate in various civic 
demonstrations in the West Bank may fall under the auspices of these broad amendments.


While it is yet unclear what form the implementation or potential scope of these Orders will assume, the deportation of any Palestinians from the West Bank will represent a violation of the Geneva Convention. As occupied territory, the Palestinian residents of the West Bank, East Jerusalem, and the Gaza Strip qualify as Protected Persons as defined under Article 4 of the Fourth Geneva Convention which provides that Protected Persons are “those who, at a give moment and in any manner whatsoever, find themselves, in the case of a conflict or occupation, in the hands of a Party to the Conflict or Occupying Power of which they are not nationals.”


Both conventional and customary international humanitarian law explicitly prohibits the deportation or forcible transfer of Protected Persons from or within occupied territory. Article 49(1) of the Fourth Geneva Convention states that, “Individual or mass forcible transfers, as well as deportations of protected persons from occupied territory to the territory of the Occupying Power or to that of any other country, occupied or not, are prohibited, regardless of their motive.”


Suggestions through the Israeli media have suggested that the recent Military Orders will carry direct effect on the estimated 25,000 Gazan-born Palestinians present in the West Bank. Such an application represents a clear deviation from the Oslo Accords. Article 4 of the Declaration of Principles on Interim Self-Government Arrangements states that, “the two sides view the West Bank and the Gaza Strip as a single territorial unit, whose integrity will be preserved during the interim period.”


The potential deportation of a protected person within occupied territory not only represents a violation of the Geneva Convention but also Israel’s agreed commitments under the Oslo Accords. Such an application of the amended Military Orders would compromise the spirit of Oslo while further strengthening the fragmentation of a future Palestinian-state predicated upon a just and lasting two-state solution.