Israel-Palestine Follow-Up:"Apartheid" Deportation Orders; Settlements

Responding to Israel's new military order which can deport tens of thousands of Palestinians from the West Bank, the Palestinian Authority's chief negotiator Saeb Erekat said Sunday:

These military orders belong in an apartheid state. Extensive in scope, they make it infinitely easier for Israel to imprison and expel Palestinians from the West Bank. They are an assault on ordinary Palestinians, and an affront to the most fundamental principles of human rights.

Palestine: Israeli Military Order Threatens Mass Deportation

These orders have the effect of turning Palestinians into criminals in their own homes, while directly undermining the efforts of Palestinians to run their own internal affairs. They also open the flood gate for Israel to target foreign-born spouses, foreign workers, and even Israeli citizens as ‘infiltrators’, as well as anyone participating in demonstrations in support of Palestinian rights and against Israel’s occupation.


Most of all, they reveal the invidious design behind Israel’s settlement policy. The fewer Palestinians there are in the West Bank, including in occupied East Jerusalem, the more settlers there will be. Israel’s endgame is not peace. It is the colonization of the West Bank.

By systematically violating past agreements, as for example in its refusal to freeze settlements, and undermining international efforts to resume negotiations, Israel is turning the Palestinian-Israeli conflict into a zero sum game. At a time when the international community is trying to create an environment conducive to negotiations, these military orders achieve the exact opposite result.

Palestine has long been a litmus test of the international community’s commitment to international law and its defense of basic rights and liberties. The international community must live up to its responsibility and protect the rights of Palestinians. Peace demands nothing less.

Israel will argue that expulsions are justified because Palestinians are breaking the law. But this argument counts for nothing when that law belongs to a system of apartheid and only serves to strengthen Israel’s 43-year long illegal occupation.

Meanwhile, Haaretz says that construction requiring the approval of Jerusalem's district planning committee has been halted for more than a month through instructions sent to the Jerusalem District Planning and Building Committee.

On Sunday, the Jerusalem municipality said that they were showing sensitivity to the issue but added that there was no intention to stop the work of the local committee. .

The Prime Minister's Office has issued a statement:

The building and planning policy in Jerusalem has not changed and is identical to that conducted by all Israeli governments. In the course of drawing lessons from the incident at the time of U.S. Vice President Joe Biden's visit to Israel, procedure is currently being developed that will ensure that an incident such as this is not repeated with respect to the timing of the release of proceedings of diplomatic sensitivity.