We’ll Expel ‘Illegal Arabs’ from Israel … says Ariel Sharon
Old Refugees, New Refugees and the Separation/Apartheid Wall
More than 220,000 Palestinians, one-third of whom are registered
refugees, have been affected by the first 123 km stretch of
Israel’s separation/apartheid wall in the occupied West Bank.
Limited access to goods, services, natural resources, market and
job opportunities is causing further impoverishment. According to
UNRWA, the construction of the wall around Jerusalem, now underway,
will affect thousands more.
The wall is not just about security. It is also part and parcel
of Israel’s so-called demographic war against the Palestinians.
Palestinian Jerusalemites whose place of residence is outside the
barrier will be forced to relocate in order to maintain their
residency status in the city. Options, however, are increasingly
limited due to decades of planning and building restrictions
imposed on Palestinian residents and the high cost of increasingly
scare accommodation.
Some Palestinians with West Bank residency will be inside sections
of the wall around Jerusalem. According to Israeli law they will be
considered illegal residents and required to move out. The village
of Nu’man is one example. Under the cover of dark, Israeli forces
rounded up all young men in the village and asked them to give up
their title deeds to their land. The men rejected the request, but
the village is now living under the fear of forced
displacement.
Ariel Sharon has also warned that once the wall is complete, Israel
will begin to expel ‘illegal Arabs’ from Israel, including
thousands of Palestinians awaiting determination of family
reunification requests. (‘We’ll expel illegal Arabs from Israel,’
Ha’aretz, 2 April 2004). The statement is consistent with the
Nationality and Entry into Israel Law (Temporary Order), adopted by
the Israeli Knesset in July 2003. The law prohibits family
reunification for Palestinian citizens married to Palestinians from
the West Bank and Gaza Strip. (See, ‘Family Reunification,
Citizenship and the Jewish State,’ al-Majdal, September 2003).
Israel’s Supreme Court continues to deliberate on the legality of
the measure.
Legal consequences of the wall
Reporting to the UN Commission on Human Rights in February 2004,
Special Rapporteur John Dugard concluded that the wall constitutes
a clear violation of international law.
“The Wall violates the prohibition on the acquisition of territory
by forcible means, and seriously undermines the right to
self-determination of the Palestinian people by reducing the size
of a future Palestinian State. Moreover, it violates important
norms of international humanitarian law prohibiting the annexation
of occupied territory, the establishment of settlements, the
confiscation of private land and the forcible transfer of people.
Human rights norms are likewise violated, particularly those
affirming freedom of movement, the right to family life and the
right to education and health care.”(1)
Recent deliberations by the International Court of Justice (ICJ),
the highest legal forum of the United Nations, on the legal
consequences arising from the construction of the wall in the
occupied Palestinian territories, represent an important effort to
reconstitute a peacemaking process consistent with the fundamental
aims and principles upon which the United Nations was founded –
i.e., the pursuit of peace and security based on dignity, justice
and international law. The Court is expected to deliver its ruling
before the summer.
The lack of respect for rule of law has led to a situation whereby
the Israeli-Palestinian peacemaking process continues to be
governed by the arbitrary use of power. It has promoted a belief
within Israeli society and among successive Israeli governments
that Israel’s policies are ‘above the law’, thus triggering public
outrage whenever this notion is challenged or contested.
At the same time, this approach has alienated large sectors of
Palestinian civil society from the quest for peace based on the
universal principles of international law, contributed to the
growth of racist-nationalistic and fundamentalist-religious streams
in both Israeli and Palestinian society, and is the major cause for
indiscriminate violence widely perceived, among both communities,
as an alternative and more effective means for ending the
protracted conflict in the region.
Social and economic consequences (2)
In the Jerusalem area the wall will impede freedom of movement for
some 86 UNRWA teachers and 260 students in Agency schools. Some
students have already transferred to more accessible schools run by
the Palestinian Authority (PA). A considerable number of
Palestinian refugees already attending PA schools and Palestinian
universities and colleges in Jerusalem will also be affected by the
wall. In addition to logistical problems of access, observes UNRWA,
the wall is likely to have a psychologically disruptive effect on
all students and teachers alike.
Impact of the Wall on UNRWA Schools, Jerusalem
Area
UNRWA Schools Outside the Wall
|
10
|
UNRWA Schools Inside the Wall
|
4
|
Refugee Students Coming from Outside the
Wall
|
296
|
Affected Refugees Students Outside the
Wall
|
95
|
Teachers Coming from Outside the
Wall
|
87
|
Affected Teachers Outside the Wall
|
86
|
Vulnerable refugee
families in the Jerusalem area enrolled under UNRWA’s Emergency and
Special Hardship programs, while becoming more dependant on
humanitarian assistance, will also be impacted by any access
problem that the Agency staff will experience in the delivery of
aid. Relief and social activities will also be impacted by the
location of some relevant Agency installations in areas isolated by
the wall. This will be the case for a distribution center, two
supplementary feeding centers and two community centers located in
Kalandia and Shufat refugee camps. Both camps will be located
'outside' of the wall.
For more information and regular updates of the impact of the wall
on Palestinian refugees visit the UNRWA website:
www.un.org/unrwa/emergency/barrier/index. Cases of refugees
residing and working, owning land, businesses etc. on different
sides of the wall will be investigated; migration flows and
aspirations will be recorded; and changing perceptions/conditions
will be looked at for specific sub-groups of the affected refugee
population (e.g. women, youth, agricultural workers, etc.).
Endnotes
(1) Report of the Violation of Human Rights
in the Occupied Arab Territories, Including Palestine, Report of
the Special Rapporteur of the Commission on Human Rights, John
Dugard, on the situation of human rights in the Palestinian
territories occupied by Israel since 1967, E/CN.4/2004/6/Add.1, 27
February 2004.
(2) UNRWA, Special Report on the Impact of
the Jerusalem Barrier on Refugees, January 2004.