Statement from the PLO Executive Committee

Today, April 13, 2010, two Israeli military orders are to enter into effect with severe legal, political, moral, and human ramifications that threaten not only the prospects of peace but also the stability of the whole region.

Israeli Military Order No. 1649, Regarding Security Provisions (Amendment No. 112) as applied to M.O. No. 378 of 1970, and Order No. 1650, Regarding Prevention of Infiltration (Amendment No. 2) as applied to M.O. No. 329 of 1969, both issued and signed Major General Gadi Shamni, then “Commander of IDF Forces in the Judea and Samaria Area” on 13 October, 2009 present concrete expressions of a dangerous Israeli racist policy of aggression and provocation that must be immediately countered and halted before it inflicts irreparable damage.

By broadly designating as “infiltrators” any Palestinians present in the West Bank without Israeli permits (regardless of the nature of such “permits”), and by giving the Israeli military the right to deport such persons and even to charge them the expenses for such an expulsion, and by making them subject to arrest for a period of three to seven years, Israel is thereby targeting a whole population and illegally legislating for a program of ethnic cleansing in the West Bank and Jerusalem.  

1.     Section III, Article 49 of the Fourth Geneva Convention clearly prohibits such transfers and deportations; thus Israel is in violation of International (as well as International humanitarian) laws and conventions.

2.     The Declaration of Principles (Oslo Agreement) signed by Israel and the PLO in September 1993, as well as other subsequent agreements, clearly stipulates that Gaza and the West Bank are one territorial unit and will be treated as such. Therefore, Israel’s deporting of West Bankers into Gaza as a punitive measure, and Its deportation of Gaza ID holders who are residing in the West Bank both constitute a blatant violation of signed agreements.

3.     Israel has thereby reassigned to itself the powers of the Military Occupation without any of its responsibilities, and has revived the rule by military order which preceded the establishment of the Palestinian Authority as per the signed agreements. It is thus declaring that the military authorities can nullify the PA and overrule its decisions while undermining its standing and credibility in the eyes of the Palestinian people.

4.     In addition to this return to pre-1993 era particularly by appointing itself as the source of legislation in the OPT, Israel has chosen a singularly significant timing to launch an assault on the demography of Palestine in the wake of its escalation on the geography of the OPT through stepped up settlement expansion and activities in and around Jerusalem as well as throughout the West Bank, despite the flimsy fiction of its “settlement freeze.” It is also consistent with Israel’s expanded and illegal practice of ID confiscation of Palestinian Jerusalemites in order to vacate the city of its rightful owners and inhabitants.

5.     Given its deliberate and arrogant refusal to cooperate with the Mitchell mission and the US Administration’s efforts at resuming serious talks for the purpose of bringing about the two-state solution and achieving peace in the region, and given its rejection of all Arab initiatives and other efforts by the international community (and in specific the Quartet) to bring Israel to compliance and to a credible peace endeavor, it is quite evident that Israel has placed itself not just above the law but outside the global consensus for peace and justice.

6.     Furthermore, and in addition to its lethal political and legal consequences, such a policy is designed to inflict enormous suffering and human deprivation on the Palestinian people by separating families and condemning many thousands to a punitive and intolerable exile. Thousands of intra-Palestinian marriages (not to mention thousands of inter-marriages) have taken place and many thousands more of children have been born without Israeli “permits” that have remained at best restrictive and arbitrary. Thus the very fabric of human life and continuity is being threatened.

7.     Since the Israeli occupation has appointed itself as the sole arbiter of the Palestinian population register and “citizenship,” it has systematically used this “power” to not only to prevent Palestinians from returning to (or even remaining in) their homes in the West Bank and Jerusalem, but has also deprived them from the skills and talents of their expatriate population and non-Palestinian specialists in the academic, technical, as well as private sector fields and projects. This policy further seeks to exclude the solidarity movement and supporters of peace and justice from reaching or remaining in the OPT, thereby isolating the Palestinians even further and leaving them entirely at the mercy of the Israeli occupation.

The Executive Committee of the Palestine Liberation Organization calls on all parties concerned to bring Israel to rescind these Orders and to cease and desist from pursuing such (and all) dangerous policies targeting the Palestinian people at the most basic human and “demographic” level.

Having thus unequivocally and actively declared its policies and intentions, Israel is to be held responsible for thwarting all efforts at the resumption of any peace endeavors and for the deliberate victimization and provocation of the Palestinian people beyond endurance. Such violations and arrogance are the most fatal form of incitement and aggression.

We therefore hold the Israeli authorities responsible for any and all consequences that may result from such actions, and we call upon the international community to rise to the challenge, to put an immediate end to these measures, and to hold Israel accountable for all its irresponsible and illegal policies that present an imminent threat to the whole region and to the global rule of law.