RAMALLAH, (PIC)– The Israeli daily Haaretz says it obtained a document revealing that Israel admitted to stripping the residency status of 140,000 Palestinians who traveled abroad between 1967 and 1994.A procedure used after the Israeli occupation of the West Bank and before the signing of the Oslo Accords with the Palestinian Authority stated that Palestinians who left for more than six years and failed to renew residence status every year for the last three years would lose residency rights.
When traveling through Jordan, Palestinians were made to turn over ID cards to officials at the Allenby Bridge border crossing and were given passes valid until their restricted return.
”If a Palestinian did not return within six months of the card’s expiration, their documents would be sent to the regional census supervisor. Residents who failed to return on time were registered as NLRs – no longer residents,” Haaretz said on Wednesday, adding that the document it obtained ”makes no mention of any warning or information that the Palestinians received about the process”.
The document was obtained by chance after the Center for the Defense of the Individual filed a request to the Civil Administration under a freedom of information law in Israel.
According to figures offered by Haaretz, the West Bank’s Palestinian population would have been 14 percent greater if it wasn’t for the procedure.
The Palestinian residents of Jerusalem still lose the right to reside in their native city after seven years of absence.
The policy is in clear violation of international law, which requires occupying countries to protect the demographics of an occupied state.
Source
The views expressed in this article are the sole responsibility of the author and do not necessarily reflect those of this Blog!
0 Have Your Say!:
Post a Comment