Israel expels Jerusalemite deputy to the West Bank

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Forces of the Israeli occupation yesterday exiled the Jerusalemite deputy, Mohammad Abu Tir, from Jerusalem to the West Bank, following his release from prison. He was released at the Beitunia checkpoint, west of Ramallah in the West Bank, where he was met by a number of fellow deputies from the Reform and Change bloc.

This arbitrary measure is the result of an Israeli court decision issued on Wednesday to expel Abu Tir, a representative of the Palestinian Legislative Council, from the Jerusalem district. Abu Tir has been in Israeli custody for over five months under the pretext of being an ‘illegal’ resident of Jerusalem – his home town.

The Israeli Interior Minister issued an order against Muhammad Abu Tir and two other Jerusalem deputies; Muhammad Totah and Ahmed Atoun, along with the former Jerusalem Minister, Khaled Abu-Arafah, ruling that the three should face expulsion on the grounds that they lacked loyalty to the state of Israeli. Abu Tir’s arrest prompted his colleagues to stage a sit-in protest at the headquarters of the international Red Cross in the hope that it would shed light on their plight.

In response, Abu Tir stated that the decision was “criminal” and vowed “to return to Jerusalem by any means possible”. He stated that according to Israeli police claims, he had infiltrated Jerusalem while in actual fact, he had never lever left the city. He also stated that “the objective is to expel all Jerusalemites and to completely Judaise the city. The occupation wants to uproot all [Palestinian] Jerusalemites and even to uproot [Palestinian] sanctuaries, trees and rocks – it does not want a single Arab in Jerusalem”.

Meanwhile, Deputy Ahmed Atoun stated that Mr Abu Tir’s trial was “political and not based on any legal framework” and that the Israeli judiciary was under the control of the Zionist intelligence.

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MEMO Photographer: Ibtehal Mansour