Israel repeals Jerusalem al-Quds residency of Palestinian lawmakers, ex-minister
Israeli authorities have revoked the permanent residency status of residencies of three members of the Palestinian Legislative Council and a former Palestinian minister in the occupied Jerusalem al-Quds.
Khaled Abu Arafa, former Minister of Jerusalem Affairs, said on Monday that his lawyer had been informed by officials from Israel’s Interior Ministry that his residency permit had been repealed along with those of Palestinian legislators Mohamed Abu-Teir, Ahmad Attoun and Mohamed Totah over affiliation to the Islamic resistance movement, Hamas.
On March 7, the Israeli Knesset (parliament) passed a law that enables Interior Minister Aryeh Deri to revoke the permanent residency status of any Palestinian in Jerusalem al-Quds on grounds of "breach of loyalty" to the Tel Aviv regime.
Hanan Ashrawi, a member of the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO)'s Executive Committee slammed the law at the time and described it as "extremely racist piece of legislation."
"By unethically stripping the residency of Palestinians from Jerusalem al-Quds and depriving the rights of those Palestinians to remain in their own city, the Israeli regime is acting in defiance of international law and is violating international human rights and humanitarian laws," she commented.
The Palestinian rights group Adalah stressed that the law is illegal under international humanitarian law.
"East Jerusalem is considered occupied territory under international humanitarian law (IHL) - like all other areas of the West Bank and the Gaza Strip - and its Palestinian residents are a protected civilian population. It is therefore illegal under IHL to impose upon them an obligation of loyalty to the occupying power, let alone to deny them the permanent residency status on this basis," the group said in a statement.
Human Rights Watch has stressed that such residency revocations, which force Palestinians out of Jerusalem, "could amount to war crimes" in the eyes of the International Criminal Court (ICC).
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