Israel admits it covertly canceled residency status of 140,000 Palestinians

Gee what a surprise... NOT.

Israel admits it covertly canceled residency status of 140,000 Palestinians

Document obtained by Haaretz reveals that between 1967 and 1994 many Palestinians traveling abroad were stripped of residency status, allegedly without warning.

Israel has used a covert procedure to cancel the residency status of 140,000 West Bank Palestinians between 1967 and 1994, the legal advisor for the Judea and Samaria Justice Ministry's office admits, in a new document obtained by Haaretz. The document was written after the Center for the Defense of the Individual filed a request under the Freedom of Information Law.

The document states that the procedure was used on Palestinian residents of the West Bank who traveled abroad between 1967 and 1994. From the occupation of the West Bank until the signing of the Oslo Accords, Palestinians who wished to travel abroad via Jordan were ordered to leave their ID cards at the Allenby Bridge border crossing.

They exchanged their ID cards for a card allowing them to cross. The card was valid for three years and could be renewed three times, each time adding another year.

If a Palestinian did not return within six months of the card's expiration, thier documents would be sent to the regional census supervisor. Residents who failed to return on time were registered as NLRs - no longer residents. The document makes no mention of any warning or information that the Palestinians received about the process.

Palestinians could still return in the first six months after their cards expired, or appeal to an exemptions committee.

The Central Bureau of Statistics says the West Bank's Palestinian population amounted to 1.05 million in 1994, which means the population would have been greater by about 14 percent if it weren't for the procedure.

Palestinians who found themselves "no longer residents" include students who graduated from foreign universities, businessmen and laborers who left for work in the Gulf. Over the years, many of them have started families, so the number of these Palestinians and their descendants is probably in the hundreds of thousands, even if some have died.

Their addition to Gaza/West bank sure would have helped the Palestinians to set up real businesses and go faster toward statehood, something which Israel doesn't want either.

The Center for the Defense of the Individual said that "mass withdrawal of residency rights from tens of thousands of West Bank residents, tantamount to permanent exile from their homeland, remains an illegitimate demographic policy and a grave violation of international law."

Exile and jews... where did I hear this before? Ah yes. Jews were ``always in exile or in forced exile`` and Israel helped them stop that... and what do they do ? Force exile on Palestinians... Freaking Israeli government.

This whole mess totally goes with the long established Israeli government policy of kicking Palestinians out to get more land ``legally``...

yep Israel is the biggest terror state in the middle east
fact they own and control the USA doesnt help all we can do is keep printing the facts and hope people get informed and demand an end to the billions we give them in support and demand accountable government so we can clean out their agents.

Another FnS for the OP and a bump

reply to post by Vitchilo


I notice the usual crowd of Israeli defenders are very quite..
Then I guess this is beyond defending...

s&f

reply to post by Vitchilo


Hold on a minute...

Not that this makes sense to me, but Israel didn't just "take it away"..

It says that upon leaving the country they were given some sort of ID card with an expiration date of three years, and an option to renew 3 more, and only then they can lose their residency.

So it wasn't like you could leave for a month and suddenly you're not a resident any more, and the people who had these cards knew about the expiration dates... Or not, maybe people just forgot..

Still, it's not something I can justify.. Or understand the reasoning behind...
Glad to hear it's over with for the past 17 years.

Does this exist anywhere else in the world? Rescinding citizenship for someone who's chosen to live abroad?

Eliad.

reply to post by Eliad

Does this exist anywhere else in the world? Rescinding citizenship for someone who's chosen to live abroad?

Not that I've ever heard of..
But this seems to have only applied to Arabs..
A Jew could leave and come back anytime..

Two levels of citizenship??
We call that racism here.

reply to post by backinblack


First of all, the title of the thread claims it was "covert"... that's been proven wrong, since they got a card with an expiration date, so, nothing covert about that...

As for the procedure above, I agree with Eliad, it's stupid and weird... however, I'm not sure where they got the 14% number they claim, but whatever, since it's moot anyway (when the PA was established, these people could have returned to it)

And the people in the west-bank and gaza were never citizens of Israel, Israel never annexed the west-bank and gaza (in preparation for negotiations), the only areas it did annex were the Golan heights and East Jerusalem, and the Arabs living there are full citizens... hope that clears it up for you..

reply to post by backinblack


That's because they're not, and have never been, citizens of Israel, they're an occupied people, they've never received any citizenship.

Arab Israelis are citizens, and they can come and go as they please.

Those are the facts, whether or not it's racism is up to you to decide.