| Campaign to End ID Card Confiscation in
Jerusalem Public Mobilization Puts ID Card Confiscation on Local and International Agenda Israeli High Court Decision Postponed BADIL Resource Center Intensive efforts of coordination and mobilization by Palestinian and Israeli human rights organizations, women organizations, and local and international NGOs and solidarity groups working for the protection of Palestinian rights in occupied Jerusalem peaked on April 21 – 22, when the Israeli High Court conducted the hearing of the petition against the Israeli policy of ID card confiscation. Extensive media coverage of the public protest helped creating a situation where, unlike in the past, the High Court hearing was held in a situation of public scrutiny – a fact which no doubt influenced its proceeding and outcome. On April 21, one day before the court hearing, an international observer delegation composed of seven jurists and legal experts was briefed on the petition by local human rights lawyers. Later that day, the delegation was received by Faisal Husseini at the Orient House, where, together with a large number of representatives of the foreign missions, they were informed of the official Palestinian position in regards to Israel’s policy of ethnic cleansing in Jerusalem. Mr. Husseini emphasized that – while the implementation of all Israeli law in occupied East Jerusalem is illegal in principle – the Orient House considers the effort by the human rights organizations to tackle the policy of ID card confiscation in the Israeli High Court a positive step, if it can contribute to reducing the immediate suffering of the city’s Palestinian inhabitants. The High Court hearing on April 22 was accompanied by a vigil of Palestinian victims of ID card confiscation and NGO representatives held outside the Court, while others, including the international observer delegation were present in the Court hall. The court discussion centered around the
question of whether Israel had changed its residency policy in 1996, a fact which was
denied by the Israeli State Attorney. In order to resolve this issue, the Court made the
following decision: The State Attorney materials are to be submitted to the petitioners by the end of July and they can submit their response by the end of September 1999. Only at the end of this process will the court reconvene to continue consideration of the case. The delegation of international observers present at the hearing will prepare its report for the petitioners and the NGOs, organizers of the Campaign to End ID Card Confiscation. Their report will be submitted to the foreign missions, Palestinian officials and all relevant UN commissions as a tool for lobbying, especially in the framework of the preparations of the special meeting (scheduled for July 1999) of the High Contracting Parties to the Fourth Geneva Convention to examine ways of enforcing the Convention in the Israeli occupied Palestinian territories. The High Court Petition was submitted by:
The Campaign to End ID Card Confiscation is
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