Occupation

According to figures from Badil, more than one-third of the Palestinian population of the OPT were displaced during the war. Your brother, Yosef, who fled to another part of the West Bank after the Nakba, was one of those displaced in what is known as the Naksa, and ended up in Syria. At the time, Palestinians were being forcibly removed on buses or forced to sign papers saying they voluntarily left.

Yosef hoped he would be able to come back soon but, in September 1967, Israel conducted a census in the West Bank, East Jerusalem and the Gaza Strip. Only Palestinians registered in the census were considered by Israel to be legal residents of the occupied territories. It is estimated that 60,000 West Bank Palestinians were abroad at the time of the war and so were not included in the census.

Meanwhile, following the occupation of the West Bank, the Israeli military commander published the Proclamation Concerning the Takeover of Administration by the Israeli Defence Forces, which established military rule in the area. The military commander declared himself the new sovereign of the area and assumed all authorities of "governance, legislation, appointment and administration with regards to the area or its residents".

A system of military laws and orders began to govern every aspect of the lives of Palestinians living under Israeli control, from having to inform the Israeli military in-order to move a telephone to the outlawing of protests, or even waving flags. Israel established its first five military courts in Hebron, Nablus, Jenin, Jericho and Ramallah to punish those breaking the laws.