[News] Human Rights Organisations Send Urgent Appeal to UN Special Procedures on the Imminent Threat of Forcible Transfer/Deportation of Salah Hammouri for “Breach of Allegiance”

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  Human Rights Organisations Send Urgent Appeal to UN Special Procedures
  on the Imminent Threat of Forcible Transfer/Deportation of Salah
  Hammouri for “Breach of Allegiance”

October 5, 2020
------------------------------------------------------------------------

On Wednesday, 30 September 2020, 13 Palestinian and regional human 
rights organisations submitted a joint urgent appeal to the United 
Nations (UN) Special Procedures on the imminent threat of forcible 
transfer/deportation of Salah Hammouri, a Palestinian-French human 
rights defender and a lawyer at Addameer Prisoner Support and Human 
Rights Association for “breach of allegiance” to the State of Israel. 
Addressing six UN Special Rapporteurs, including the Special Rapporteur 
on the situation of human rights in the Palestinian territory occupied 
since 1967, the organisations highlighted Israel’s policy of silencing 
<http://www.alhaq.org/advocacy/6197.html> those who seek justice and 
accountability for violations committed against the Palestinian people, 
as a tool to maintain its apartheid regime.

On 03 September 2020, Salah was officially notified of the intention to 
revoke his permanent Jerusalem residency for so-called “breach of 
allegiance” to the State of Israel. Critically, this is not an isolated 
incident, as Israel has previously targeted Salah, including by banning 
him from accessing parts of the West Banks for 16 months, arbitrarily 
arresting him, and deporting his wife, Elsa Lefort, a French national, 
separating him from his wife and son.

Based on Israel’s domestic Entry into Israel Law 
<http://www.alhaq.org/advocacy/6331.html>, which is illegally applied to 
the protected Palestinian population in the occupied East Jerusalem, the 
Israeli Minister of Interior is granted the authority to revoke the 
Israeli residency status based on “breach of allegiance” to the State of 
Israel. Stipulated by international humanitarian law, specifically 
Article 45 of the Hague Regulations and Article 68(3) of the Fourth 
Geneva Convention, the protected population in occupied territory does 
not have a duty of allegiance to the Occupying Power.

Residency revocation has long been used by Israel as a tool to forcibly 
transfer Palestinians from the occupied East Jerusalem, to reduce and 
eliminate Palestinian presence therein and to alter demographic facts on 
the ground. Residency revocations, including punitive revocations, 
flagrantly violate numerous other provisions of international 
humanitarian law and international human rights law. Revocation of 
residency leads to forcible transfer, a war crime under the Rome Statute 
of the International Criminal Court and a grave breach of the Fourth 
Geneva Convention. As residency revocations form part of a widespread 
and systematic policy to transfer the protected Palestinian population, 
it may also amount to a crime against humanity.

The joint urgent appeal calls on UN Special Procedures to address the 
imminent risk of transfer or deportation facing Palestinian human rights 
defender Salah, by urgently intervening to protect Salah’s rights while 
opposing Israel’s illegal policies and laws targeting Palestinians. The 
Israeli judicial system allows for unlawful policies and practices to be 
carried out with impunity and with complete disregard for international 
law. Accordingly, it is imperative that the international community 
immediately address Israeli violations. Overall, the organisations urged 
the UN Special Procedure mandates to:

I.      Call on Israel, the Occupying Power, to halt its legal 
proceedings for the revocation of Salah Hammouri’s residency status, 
whether on the basis of “breach of allegiance” or on any other grounds, 
which, if carried out, will result in violations of his rights to 
freedom of movement and residence, freedom of expression, and freedom of 
association, adding Salah’s case to the commission by Israel of the 
serious crime of population transfer;

 2. Urge Israel to immediately cease any and all practices and policies
    intended to intimidate and silence human rights defenders, in
    violation of their right to freedom of expression, including through
    arbitrary detention, torture and other ill-treatment,
    institutionalised hate speech and incitement, residency revocation,
    deportations, and other coercive or punitive measures;
 3. Call on Israel to immediately repeal its Entry into Israel Law
    (1952), which has been used to further the Israeli policy of
    population transfer and achieve demographic goals in Jerusalem in
    violation of Palestinians' fundamental rights, including their right
    to freedom of movement and residence, and the right to leave their
    country and to return; and
 4. Call for international justice and accountability, including at the
    International Criminal Court, for Israel's widespread and systematic
    human rights violations, and alleged international crimes, including
    the crime of population transfer, and the crime of apartheid, which
    constitutes a crime against humanity.

*Joining organisations: *

  * Palestinian Human Rights Organizations Council, comprising of:

-      Al Haq Organization - Law in the Service of Mankind

-      Al Mezan Center for Human Rights

-      ADDAMEER Prisoner Support and Human Rights Association

-      Palestinian Centre for Human Rights

-      DCI - Defense for Children International – Palestine

-      Jerusalem Legal Aid and Human Rights Center

-      Aldameer Association for Human Rights

-      Ramallah Center for Human Rights Studies

-      Hurryyat - Center for Defense of Liberties and Civil Rights

-      The Independent Commission for Human Rights (Ombudsman Office) - 
Observer Member

-      Muwatin Institute for Democracy and Human Rights - Observer Member

  * Cairo Institute for Human Rights Studies (CIHRS)
  * Community Action Center (CAC)

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