Bahbah: Revoking My East Jerusalem Residency is a "War Crime" and I Want Justice
By: Bishara A. Bahbah / Arab America Featured Columnist
I was blown away by a title that appeared recently in an Israeli newspaper. It read, “Airport to stay shut, but 900 new immigrants will be permitted to fly to Israel,”. In the midst of a pandemic, Jewish immigrants are welcome to Israel no matter what!
Unlike these Jewish immigrants, – most of whom have probably never set foot in Israel/Palestine – I am forbidden to enter Jerusalem. I was born and raised in the capital city, but I’ll ever be offered citizenship upon arrival at the airport.
Because I am Palestinian, not Jewish, and irrespective of my religion – I happen to be Christian [American evangelicals, please note!, my Israeli-issued “permanent” residency status in Jerusalem was revoked by Israel because of some trumped up Israeli-created regulations intended to depopulate Jerusalem of its Palestinian inhabitants.
My Story
I left East Jerusalem to pursue my university education in the United States. Given the nature of my work and expertise, I have worked in various countries around the world. I taught at Harvard University in Massachusetts and became President and CEO of one of Ronald Lauder’s companies. My jobs took me all over the United States, Europe, the Middle East and North Africa.
I am not an “auto mechanic or a grocer”, with all due respect to all professions, who would open up a shop and settle down in one neighborhood for my entire life. That is exactly one of Israel’s expectations of East Jerusalem Palestinians who wish to retain their “permanent” residency status.
Utilizing various legal and archaic mumbo jumbo excuses, Israel’s Ministry of Interior “verbally” informed me in 2009 that my “permanent residency” status in East Jerusalem has “expired”. These excuses include that Jerusalem has not been the “center of my life”. They have also said that I’ve spent over seven years outside of Jerusalem. And that I have obtained residency in another country. Other East Jerusalem Palestinians have furthermore been stripped of their “permanent” resident status, based on an outlandish concept of “breach of loyalty”.
Does Israel really expect an occupied people to be “loyal” to it?
Ironically, I did not choose to be a “permanent” resident in Israel. It was a “status” imposed upon me as a Jerusalemite. This happened as a result of Israel’s occupation of East Jerusalem, the West Bank and Gaza following the 1967 war. Secondly, how can something that is “permanent” be “revoked”? I know that “permanent” does not mean “temporary”, nor does it mean “revocable”. Or it is only the case when convenient for Israel to pursue its objective of de-populating East Jerusalem of Palestinians?
After the 1967 war, Israel moved to complete the official annexation of the eastern part of Jerusalem. Following the annexation, Israel conducted a census. Afterward, it voluntarily granted “permanent” residency to Palestinians living in East Jerusalem only if they were present at the time of theis census. Those who were traveling or studying abroad at the time missed out. They were given the option of applying for residency under the “family reunification” clause. This process was archaic and only approved in rare cases.
According to Israel’s Ministry of Interior, quoted in a report published by Amnesty International in April 2018, between 1967 and 2016, Israel revoked the residency status of at least 14,495 East Jerusalem Palestinians.
The International Laws and Regulations that Prohibit Israel from Revolving Palestinians’ Residency Status in Jerusalem
I am not a lawyer, nor a legal expert. However, based on the laws and resolutions noted above, I, along with tens of thousands of East Jerusalem Palestinians, were wronged.
According to the International Criminal Court, Israel’s actions against me and the other East Jerusalem residents constitute a “war crime.”
In 2017 Israel’s Supreme Court Ruled that Palestinians are “indigenous inhabitants,” and not “immigrants”
Some relief of this injustice was restored by Israel’s Supreme Court which passed a unanimous ruling on March 14, 2017. The status of East Jerusalem residents is unique by virtue of the people being “indigenous inhabitants”, in the words of Justice Mazuz, not immigrants. Furthermore, even if their residency status expired due to a long stay abroad, they have the principle right to have it restored.
International Laws and Regulations that Prohibit Israel from Revoking Palestinians’ Residency Status in Jerusalem
1. The Geneva Convention
Under international law, East Jerusalem is considered an occupied territory. Therefore, its population is protected by the 1949 Fourth Geneva Convention (IV) Relative to the Protection of Civilian Persons in Time of War. In plain words, the Israeli occupying authorities are not allowed to forcibly transfer residents of East Jerusalem because they are considered “protected persons” that cannot be expelled.
2. The United Nations
The annexation of East Jerusalem is also illegal under international law. This is in light of the inadmissibility of the acquisition of territory through the use or threat of use of force, as codified into article 2(4) of the United Nations Charter. As a result, the international community never recognized the annexation of East Jerusalem and the other territories occupied in 1967. It has actually been declared “null and void”, according to UN General Assembly Resolution 2253 and UN Security Council Resolution 242. Following the Knesset’s passing of the Basic Law in 1980, which stated that, “Jerusalem, completed and united, is the capital of Israel,” the UN Security Council passed Resolution 478 which affirmed that Israel’s actions constitute a violation of international law and declared the law’s enactment as “null and void”.
3. The International Criminal Court
The Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court (ICC) – of which Israel is admittedly not a member – stipulates that “the deportation or transfer [by the Occupying Power] of all or parts of the population of the occupied territory within or outside the territory” constitutes a “war crime.”
Justice Vogelman held that the affinity to Israel of the East Jerusalem residents, as native inhabitants, is deep. Even if their Israeli status “expires” following transfer of “center of life” abroad, the Minister of Interior must give considerable weight to “the unique position of these residents as a people who were born in this area”.
Further Setbacks
As much as the Israeli Supreme Court decision was encouraging, it lacked the strength of a straightforward and unequivocal order to the Israeli Minister of Interior to immediately reinstate those “permanent” residencies that were revoked. As a result, the Ministry of Interior has put in place a lengthy list of requirements that have to be met prior to the Interior Minister’s determination whether to accept a reinstatement of the permanent residency status. And, if anyone has ever dealt with Israel’s bureaucracy [with the exception of its security services, they would know that it is arduous, lazy, inconsistent, and quite incompetent.
The reinstatement of the Palestinians whose permanent residencies were revoked should be as easy as its revocation. We all know it takes the mere push of a button on a computer. After all, Israel has acted illegally from 1967 until the Israeli Supreme Court’s decision of March 2017.
Israel’s Knesset and the “Loyalty” Law
But then, in March 2018, the Israeli Knesset passed a new law dubbed, the “loyalty law”. It allows the Israeli government to revoke the “permanent” residency status of Palestinians living in East Jerusalem. “This law requires non-citizens of the State of Israel to be loyal to a country they are not citizens of,”. This is according to The St. Yves society, a nonprofit organization, based in Jerusalem, which provides free legal aid to those who need it.
The new law stipulates three situations in which the “permanent” residency status of East Jerusalem Palestinians can be revoked. The first is, “if the original status was granted under false pretenses”. The second is “if the resident endangered public safety or security,”. The third is if “he betrays the State of Israel”.
Fortunately, I have not lied nor have endangered public safety. This is unless writing articles, such as this one, is considered an endangerment to Israel’s public safety or security.
Acknowledgement of Palestinian Rights
Israel has committed a “war crime” against me and other East Jerusalem Palestinians. Based on the definition of the International Criminal Court, I want Israel to rectify its wrongful and illegal actions. I want it to restore my “permanent residency” status in Jerusalem along with those of East Jerusalem Palestinians who have lost their residencies since 1967.
What I want is justice.
I want to be able to live and be buried in Jerusalem. My love for Jerusalem is immeasurable. And I will fight with all my powers – legally and with my pen – to restore my inalienable right to live in the city of my birth, Jerusalem.
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Prof. Bishara Bahbah was the editor-in-chief of the Jerusalem-based “Al-Fajr” newspaper between 1983-84. He was a member of the Palestinian delegation to the Peace Talks on Arms Control and Regional Security. He taught at Harvard and was the associate director of its Kennedy School’s Institute for Social and Economic Policy in the Middle East.
The views and opinions expressed in this article are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the position of Arab America.
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