Israel’s orders could create obstacle for the fourth Geneva Convention
April 19th, 2010 - 11:48 pm ICT by BNO NewsUNITED NATIONS (BNO NEWS) – The fourth Geneva Convention could be facing an obstacle after the Israeli military issued two orders relating to movement in the occupied Palestinian territory, the United Nations (UN) said Monday.
These orders would be violating the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR) as Richard Falk, UN Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in the occupied Palestinian territory stated that, “the orders appear to enable Israel to detain, prosecute, imprison and/or deport any and all persons present in the West Bank.”
Israel recently redefined the term “infiltrator” as “a person who entered the Area unlawfully following the effective date, or a person who is present in the Area and does not lawfully hold a permit,” which caused concern in Falk.
“Even if this open-ended definition is not used to imprison or deport vast numbers of people, it causes unacceptable distress,” Falk said in a statement. “It is not at all clear what permit, if any, will satisfy this order.”
“Illustrative of the potential for cruel abuse is a provision of the order requiring the person deported to pay the costs of his or her deportation, and suffer confiscations of property if unable to pay,” Falk added.
In addition, Falk warned that deportations under the two new orders could take place without judicial review, and that detained persons can be imprisoned for seven years, unless they are able to prove that their entry was lawful, in which case they would be imprisoned for three years.
Israel is scheduled to participate in the fourth Geneva Convention, which outlines its obligations as the Occupying Power in the West Bank, and article 49 of the Convention states that “individual or mass forcible transfers, as well as deportations of protected persons from occupied territory to the territory of the Occupying Power or to that of any other country, occupied or not, are prohibited, regardless of their motive.”
But, with these orders, Israel is allowed to deport people without having their right to judicial review properly fulfilled, or possibly not reviewed at all.
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