Ethnic cleansing in Jerusalem
Following the 1967 occupation of the remainder of Palestine, Israel decided to annex the eastern part of Jerusalem - in violation of international law and resolutions, such as Article 47 of the 1949 Geneva Conventions.
Parallel to the unlawful annexation, Israel started a series of procedures aimed at the judaisation of the city and at erasing its Arab character. Israel began confiscating lands, building settlements, and transferring Jews to them, thereby violating Article 49 of the Geneva Conventions, which prohibits the transfer of civilians into occupied areas. At the same time, Israel prevented Arab residents from building, on the grounds that the areas were designated "green land" and not slated for construction. No building permits were issued to Arabs.
Although building violations exist in Jewish-dominated West Jerusalem, not one Israeli home there has been destroyed by the authorities.
Israel closed Jerusalem and prevents Palestinians from reaching Jerusalem to attend religious services, or to obtain treatment in the specialised hospitals. It also closed several Palestinian national institutions for absurd reasons.
Late in 1993, Israel came up with a new interpretation of the Israeli Law of Entrance Into Israel (1952). According to this new interpretation, Palestinian Jerusalemites are obliged to document that the "centre of their lives" is in the city. Based on this new policy, Israel has confiscated thousands of identity cards from Palestinian Jerusalemites and prevented them from living in Jerusalem. At the same time, Israel has prevented other Jerusalemites from returning to their city, claiming that they have transferred the "centre of their lives" outside Jerusalem; their family re-unification application for spouses have been frozen, their new-born children are not registered and the Israeli Interior Ministry refuses to issue ID cards to their teenage children.
Given all these dangerous violations of Palestinian human rights pertaining to the freedom of movement, the right to education and health services, and residency rights, and confronted with the Israeli policy of ethnic cleansing, dozens of Palestinian families gathered in a protest camp in the Jerusalem neighbourhood of Siwana in August 1997. Unfortunately, we have not heard the voice
Palestine * 131 U396 of the international institutions and organisations which are responsible for the implementation of international norms and conventions. Therefore, we the human rights organisations in Palestine demand that international organisations, human rights institutions and the UN all play their role in fighting Israeli policies of racist discrimination and ethnic cleansing in Jerusalem, and to oblige the Israeli government to respect international norms and conventions which oblige the occupier to maintain the status quo in any occupied city. *
This statement was issued on September 9th by: Citizen's Rights Centre/ Arab Thought Forum Freedoms Defence Institute Palestine Human Rights Information Centre Alternative Information Centre-Bethlehem Defence for Children International/Palestine Branch Jerusalem Centre for Women Women's Centre for Legal Aid and Counselling Independent Palestinian Commission for Citizens' Rights Addameer Centre for Democracy and
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