Jerusalem: Palestinian-France lawyer opposes Israeli deportation | War-Israel-Palestine News

Ramallah, Resident of the West Bank – Jerusalem-born Palestinian lawyer and human rights activist Salah Hammouri are protesting against their impending deportation.

Hammouri’s expulsion comes after Israeli officials accused him of “violating the integrity of the Israeli government” and described him as a “security threat”.

“I’m having a hard time because I can’t plan for the next 24 hours of my life. I cannot leave Ramallah because I am afraid of being arrested if I cross a Israeli border, ”said Hammouri, also a French citizen.

“I cannot travel with my family to Jerusalem, and I cannot leave the country to go to France to see my wife and children because I will not be allowed to return,” Al Jazeera said.

Hammouri’s pregnant Frenchwoman Elsa was denied entry to Israel in 2016 despite having a work visa.

“He stayed at Ben Gurion Airport for several days before being deported to France,” Hammouri said. “I was leaving the country every three months to visit my wife and two children, but now it seems impossible.”

‘No question’

On October 18, Israeli Interior Minister Ayelet Shaked announced the 36-year-old Palestinian-France civil rights activist about the removal of his position of residence in Jerusalem on the grounds of “breach of allegiance to the State of Israel”.

The verdict had already been approved by Israeli Attorney General Avichai Mendelblit and Justice Minister Gideon Saar.

Last year, Hammouri was formally informed of the Interior Ministry’s intention to extradite him to Jerusalem. He was told he could oppose the move in written letters within 30 days.

“Getting out of the country is impossible. “Israel has no right to expel Palestinians from their homeland or to restrict us from living in our cities,” Hammouri said.

Thousands of Palestinians have been living “illegally” in Jerusalem and Israel because Israeli authorities refuse to grant West Bank Palestinian citizenship or foreigners who have married Jerusalem, unlike Israeli Jews whose wives are granted the right to reside and reside as citizens. .

Israel’s denial of Palestinian citizenship is based on Citizenship and the Entity into Israel, which is considered for security reasons, but critics say it is part of a policy to change the population of East Jerusalem for the benefit of the majority of Jews.

“As a result, to this day, thousands of Palestinian couples who are Israeli citizens or residents should live in their homes for many years with nothing but military and human rights and freedoms,” Hamoked Israel said.

“In a minority of cases, those who applied for a family reunification and received the original consent prior to the enactment received temporary relief in Israel, which gives them the right to social security but does not make them stable in their homes.”

‘Break the Integrity’

International humanitarian law explicitly prohibits a person from office to seek the allegiance of the occupants, as set out in Article 45 Hague Regulations and Article 68 (3) of the Fourth Geneva Convention.

Israel’s policy of abolishing Palestinian citizenship in East Jerusalem also violates Article 43 of the Hague Constitution and Article 64 of the Fourth Geneva Convention, which states that the rulers cannot act as independent legislators or extend their laws in the confiscated territory. .

According to a 2018 report from Human Rights Watch, at least 14,595 Palestinians from Jerusalem have been evacuated from Israel since 1967, most due to having “living quarters” outside Jerusalem.

However, the removal of Hammouri resident is the first to take on a “violation of Israel’s integrity”.

He further added that his actions were seen as politically motivated by his human rights work and by the “strong opposition” to Israel. He was first arrested as a teenager for posting political slogans on the wall.

Hammouri was later sentenced to 10 years in prison for his involvement with a Palestinian man in connection with the Shas’ Israeli insurgency – a case his lawyer said was unfair because he had stopped the process. going forward.

He was given the opportunity to be deported to France, where his mother and wife came from, or serve in prison; he refused to be deported.

“I spent seven years in prison before being released from prison in 2011 between Israelis and Palestinians,” Hammouri said.

“After that, I was arrested several times and imprisoned for almost two years without charge,” he added, referring to Israel’s law that detained Palestinian people without trial or indictment.

His Israeli lawyer, Lea Tsemel, said an appeal against the deportation could take months and that any court decision would be based on the political situation.

He added that there was a good chance he would not win the appeal but that it would not prevent them from continuing to fight for justice even if it took a long time.

“We have a variety of arguments that we want to apply to what Hammouri did and did not do,” Tsemel told Al Jazeera.

Israel annexed East Jerusalem in 1967 – an unprecedented move that is in violation of international law.

“Palestinians have nothing to do with the abduction,” Tsemel said. “It was only after the Israeli court changed the law that the interior ministry barred Palestinians from becoming citizens for not taking an oath of allegiance or wrongdoing.

“We argue that the people of East Jerusalem should not listen to the country of their non-citizens and that the work is controlled by them.

The reunion of the Jerusalem family

The Citizenship and Immigration Act in Israel is renewed every six months but, on July 6, expired after the Knesset, the Israeli parliament, voted to increase the bill.

“Within a few weeks it was learned that the interior minister had instructed the cabinet ministers not to respond to citizenship requests or qualifications granted by those who had recently applied the law – more than 13,000 people even human rights organizations repeatedly connected to the ministry,” Hamoked said.

Hamoked, the Association for Civil Rights in Israel (ACRI), and Physicians for Human Rights asked the high court to compel the interior ministry to process applications for reunification.

“There has been no hearing so far – we have asked for the case to be heard in a higher court than the district court, and we are awaiting a decision on the matter,” Hamoked CEO Jessica Montell told Al Jazeera.

“The government should respond to this request but request that it be extended.”

Hammouri was one of six Palestinian freedom fighters whose phones were seized by Pegasus spy software sold by Israeli intelligence company NSO, according to an in-depth study by Frontline Defenders, in a technical report by Amnesty International and the University. of Toronto’s Citizen Lab. , who confirmed the results themselves.

Milena Ansari from Addameer Palestinian Rights told Al Jazeera that Israel had been trying to oust Hammouri for years.

“There is no evidence to support the recent arrests and Israelis have not neglected the human rights work that they have been doing for many years as a qualified lawyer,” Ansari said.

Hammouri admitted that his life would have been easier if he had left Palestine to live in France with his family, but said it was not an option.

“For me it is not a matter of leaving. “I will use every means possible to stay in Jerusalem, which is my right,” he said.

“I was born in Jerusalem, and I grew up in Jerusalem, and my memories are there, my soul is there. It is my right to live in Jerusalem, and I will continue to fight for it, even though I know that the journey is long and difficult. ”