Open letter from the Jerusalem Palestinian Legislative Council members

15 December 2010

RE: The threat to expel us from Jerusalem, our home city

You may know that the last Palestinian Legislative Council (PLC) elections were held on the 25th January 2006. The elections were organized by agreement with all concerned parties and with the full cooperation of national and international observers, who deemed them to be transparent, free and fair in accordance with international criteria.

The results was contrary to the expectations of the Israeli occupation authorities and its Western supporters as a result of which Israel embarked on a campaign to discredit and undermine the Palestinian democratic process. First to be targeted was Palestinian unity followed by extortion of the Palestinian leadership. In an unprecedented move, Israel also detained 64 members of the newly-elected PLC as well as ministers serving in the 10th Palestinian government.

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We, the undersigned members of the PLC representing Jerusalem, have endured what our other PLC colleagues and ministers have endured. We have been arrested, detained for 3-4 years and subjected to all forms of extortion and threats to have our residency revoked if we do not resign from the PLC and the government. We have refused to bend before such threats and vow to continue to serve our people and our just cause.

After our release from detention, the Israeli police served us with expulsion orders to get out of Jerusalem. The orders issued on 19th May 2010 were valid for a month, after which our residency in Jerusalem would be considered illegal. The police made it clear that if we did not leave our home city voluntarily they would expel us by force.

Before the end of that period we met Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas at his request, where he confirmed to us an understanding with the Israeli authorities that they would cancel the expulsion order. However, on 30 June 2010, several days after this meeting, the Israeli occupation forces arrested our colleague Mohammad Mahmoud Abu Teir; at this, we sought sanctuary in the grounds of the headquarters of the International Red Cross in East Jerusalem on 1 July.

Israel, the Occupying Power, in violation of its obligations under the Fourth Geneva Convention of 1949, wants to banish us from our city. This act is another expression of the Zionist state’s policy of “ethnic cleansing” across occupied Palestine. Israel wants to expel as many Palestinians as possible, Muslims and Christians alike, in order to realise its dream of an exclusively Judaised Jerusalem.

United Nations Security Council Resolution 799 dated December 18, 1992, part 2 “Reaffirms the applicability of the Fourth Geneva Convention of 12 August 1949 to all the Palestinian Territories occupied by Israel since 1967, including Jerusalem, and affirms that deportation of civilians constitutes a contravention of [Israel’s] obligations under the Convention.”

The expulsion of us four individuals creates a dangerous precedent paving the way for the expulsion from Jerusalem of more Palestinian leaders and public figures and thousands of Palestinian citizens. This will lead undoubtedly to a further deterioration in the quality of life for Jerusalemites and will infringe on their rights to live in security and dignity.

This illegal act, coupled with other measures taken by Israel, intend to rip apart the social fabric of Jerusalem’s Palestinian community, dividing families and separating children from their parents. If not confronted and stopped, this policy will lead to further forced expulsions from Jerusalem.

The world cannot remain silent while Israel destroys the national identity of the Palestinians and their presence in Jerusalem, demolishes homes, confiscates land and properties, builds settlements, imposes a siege and constructs walls and military check points around the Holy City. These acts create further disruption to the stability of the Jerusalem community and endanger its security.

As elected deputies we believe that we have the full right to live in our city and represent our people on the basis of all international conventions and covenants. We will, therefore, stay in the compound of the ICRC headquarter in Jerusalem until the Israeli Authorities cancel the illegal expulsion order, return our ID documents and residency rights, and return Mohammad Abu Tier to his home in Jerusalem.

International law guarantees the right of occupied people to maintain their legal status and their nationality, including their right to live in their towns and cities, and forbids the occupying power from altering that status. We turn to you and to your organizations, as supporters and defenders of the Palestinians’ just and lawful case, to do all that is necessary to stop Israel’s arbitrary and illegal measures.

Yours faithfully,

PLC member – Mohammad Mahmoud Abu Teir (expelled to the West Bank)

PLC member – Ahmad Mohammad Attoun

PLC member – Mohammad Imran Totah

Ex Minister of Jerusalem – Khaled Ibrahim Abu Arafeh

Read also The legal status of Israel’s expulsion of elected Palestinian legislators from Jerusalem

The views expressed in this article belong to the author and do not necessarily reflect the editorial policy of Middle East Monitor.