Swap Deal Officially Kicked-Off

Tuesday October 18, 2011 09:49 by Saed Bannoura - IMEMC & Agencies

The prisoner-swap deal signed between Hamas and Israel has effectively entered the implementation process after the Israeli High Court of Justice rejected all appeals filed by Israelis against it. Shalit is now in Egypt; Egyptian sources reported. Hundreds of detainees loaded onto buses in preparation for their release.

Gilad Shalit

The deal will set 1027 Palestinian detainees free on two phases in exchange for the release of corporal Gilad Shalit. Media sources reported that Shalit was moved to Egypt in preparation to be handed to Israel after it releases the first 477 detainees.

Egyptian media sources reported that Shalit was moved to Egypt and is now in the hands of the Egyptian security services awaiting to be moved back to Israel.

Shalit reportedly crossed into Egypt when an SUV loaded with Palestinian fighters crossing the border towards Egypt, and quickly drove back to the Palestinian side of the border after handing Shalit to Egypt.

The second phase will ensure the release of 550 detainees two months after the first phase is concluded.

The implementation of the first phase of the deal started at 2 on Tuesday at dawn when 96 detainees were moved from the Negev Detention Camp to the Ofer Prison in preparation to be released into the West Bank.

334 detainees were loaded onto buses that will drive them to the Kerem Shalom (Karem Abu Salem) Crossing between Israel and Gaza.

On Tuesday around 4 at dawn, a bus loaded with 27 female detainees, 16 detainees from Jerusalem, and three from the 1948 territories drove off on its way to release them. Four female detainees were sent to Karem Abu Salem Crossing, while one detainee from the Golan Heights was moved to a local police station. Three detainees from the 1948 territories were moved to Majiddo Prison in preparation for their release.

On Monday evening, the Israeli High Court rejected four appeals filed by Israelis against the deal, stated that the swap-deal is totally legal, and granted the deal a green-light.

Palestinian Minister of Detainees in the West Bank, Issa Qaraqe', stated that Palestinian President, Mahmoud Abbas, will personally welcome the West Bank released detainees at his headquarters in Ramallah. Leaders of different factions and institutions will be attending the ceremony.

The Hamas movement in Gaza also concluded its preparations for welcome the detainees who will be sent to Gaza. 163 detainees will be sent to the Rafah Border Terminal before heading to Gaza.

40 detainees will be forced into exile, while Hamas' Political Bureau head, Khaled Mashal, will be holding an official ceremony in Cairo to welcome them.

Israeli military and security sources reported that the army is preparing to counter any scenario that could jeopardize the deal, especially after Shalit is handed to Egyptian mediators.

Before being sent back home, Israel wants to conduct a comprehensive medical checkup on Shalit before he is airlifted to a military base in Israel, where his parents will be waiting for him. He will likely undergo another checkup at the second base before he is sent back home with his family.

Israel imposed media restrictions at the base in order to ensure privacy for Shalit and his family.

Shalit will be meeting Israeli Prime Minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, Defense Minister, Ehud Barak, and Israeli Army Chief of Staff, Benny Gantz.

Families relieved by prisoner swap

Family members of Palestinian
prisoners still do not know who will
be released (IRIN/Erica Silverman)

Ma'an

GAZA CITY (IRIN) -- Palestinian families are eagerly awaiting the publication of the names of the more than 1,000 detainees that are to be released in a ground-breaking prisoner swap deal with Israel.

The Israeli cabinet approved the agreement today, under which captive Israeli soldier Gilad Shalit will be freed in exchange for 1,029 Palestinian prisoners held in Israeli jails.

Shalit has been in Hamas captivity since June 2006, captured in a cross-border raid executed by Hamas-linked militants. In response, Israel targeted Gaza’s main power station that supplies electricity to Gaza residents.

Outside the International Committee of the Red Cross office in Gaza City, Um Mahmoud holds a large photograph of her son Mahmoud Rais, now aged 30. He was arrested in 2003.

“He was detained at an Israeli checkpoint inside Gaza and we never learned why he was sentenced,” she says. “This release is a victory for Palestinians and for the government.”

Um Mohamed also clutches a photograph of her husband Salama Musleh, arrested and detained by Israeli authorities in 2003 for killing an Israeli settler. She claims the settler killed seven Palestinians.

“God wiling I will find my husband’s name on the list, I have been waiting 18 years,” she says, adding: “The Palestinian Authority failed to release Palestinian prisoners without a peace process.”

It is not yet clear whether any children will be included in the release. At the end of June 2011, 209 Palestinian boys aged 12-17 were in Israeli detention, according to UNICEF.

During the reporting period (May and June 2011), 15 cases were documented of ill-treatment - in some cases amounting to torture of Palestinian boys aged 13-17 by the Israeli authorities during arrest, interrogation and detention.

Affidavits were taken for all cases that involved the use of hand-ties (14 instances), blindfolding (11), beatings (10), stripped of clothes (10), exposure to heat/cold/rain (5), kicking (5), and verbal abuse (5).

Hunger strike

Ex-prisoners and families of detainees have been staging a hunger strike outside ICRC headquarters in Gaza City for over a week, in solidarity with the estimated 1,000 Palestinian prisoners inside Israeli jails who began a massive hunger strike on 27 September protesting inhumane conditions inside the jails.

Strikers’ demands include ending the use of isolation cells and the denial of basic health treatment.

“The ICRC has facilitated medical visits to the strikers from the start,” said ICRC spokesperson Phiri. “We have shifted resources to focus on these prisoners,” he said.

According to the agreement, brokered by Egyptian intelligence, Shalit is expected to be released in about a week, along with the release of 479 Palestinian security prisoners.

Of these 479 prisoners, 96 are from the West Bank and 131 from the Gaza Strip; they will be allowed to return to their homes. Fourteen prisoners from East Jerusalem and six Israeli Arabs will also be allowed to return to their homes.

About half of the released prisoners (203) will not be allowed to return to their homes. Forty will be deported and the rest transferred to Gaza.

Twenty-seven women, all the women imprisoned in Israel for security offenses, will be released. Two will be deported, one to Gaza and one to Jordan.

In two months, Israel will release another 550 prisoners of its choosing.

Over 5,200 Palestinians were being held in Israeli custody for occupation-related offenses in August, including 29 women, according to the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs.

Of that number 272 are administrative detainees, Palestinians held by the Israeli authorities without charge or trial, allegedly for preventive purposes.

“Sigh of relief”

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said the deal succeeded in bringing Shalit home, while maintaining the security of Israeli citizens.

Some in Israel, however, questioned the move, concerned that releasing so many Palestinian prisoners for one Israeli soldier could encourage future abductions.

“For the last five years, the Shalit case has shaped the feelings of many Israelis towards Gaza, as well as the policies of successive Israeli governments towards Gaza,” said Sari Bashi, director of Israeli NGO Gisha, the legal center for freedom of movement.

“The sigh of relief is palpable throughout Israel and of course the relief felt by the Shalit family and the families of the prisoners who will be released,” she said.

Israeli men and women must serve in the military. In a country where most families watch their young son or daughter leave for the army, the Shalit case has been an emotional issue.

Jerusalem captives' families hold protest at the Aqsa Mosque

[ 07/10/2011 - 06:11 PM ]

OCCUPIED JERUSALEM, (PIC)-- Families of Jerusalem captives held a protest at the Aqsa Mosque after the Friday prayers outside the Dome of the Rock. Protestors held pictures of their loved ones in Israeli occupation jails and called on the Arabs and Muslims to campaign for their release and not to ignore their issue. They chanted for the release of their imprisoned relatives, and called for the captives issue to be highlighted especially as they have been on hunger strike in all occupation jails for the past ten days.

Jailed Legislator Rejects Expulsion Plea Bargain

Tuesday October 04, 2011 10:30 by Saed Bannoura - IMEMC & Agencies

Detained legislator Ahmad Attoun, of Jerusalem, rejected an Israeli Court offer of expulsion from Jerusalem in exchange for his release. He also refused to sign a document stating that he will not return to the city.

Legislator Ahmad Attoun

Attorney Fadi Al Qawasmi, one of the defense lawyers in Attoun’s case, stated that the Israeli Prosecution demanded extending the detention of Attoun until all legal procedures are concluded, according to the Safa News Agency. The Israeli Prosecution claims that Attoun, a resident of Jerusalem, “illegally entered Israel."

Al Qawasmi added that after listening to defense and prosecution arguments, the Israeli court decided to release Attoun and ordered a NIS 50.000 bail.

The court also ruled that Attoun must sign an affidavit stating that he will not enter Jerusalem without an Israeli permit, or until the High Court rules that he is allowed into the city. He rejected this condition because he is from Jerusalem and insists on his legal right to be there.

Attoun was kidnapped by undercover forces of the Israeli army last week. He was near the protest tent in the proximity of the Red Cross in Jerusalem, where several legislators and elected Palestinian officials from Jerusalem are protesting Israeli orders of expulsion from their city.

ICRC: Israel must comply with law over MP's detention

BETHLEHEM (Ma'an) -- The International Committee of the Red Cross on Monday urged Israel to comply with international humanitarian law following the detention of a Palestinian lawmaker.

Israeli police on Monday stormed a protest tent in front of the Red Cross offices in Jerusalem and detained Hamas-affiliated MP Ahmad Attoun.

"In connection with the arrest of Ahmed Attoun, a member of the Palestinian Legislative Council, in Jerusalem today, the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) is calling upon the Israeli authorities to comply with their obligations under international humanitarian law," a statement said.

"Article 49 of the Fourth Geneva Convention of 1949 prohibits Israel, regardless of its motive, from forcibly transferring Palestinians.

"Under international humanitarian law, East Jerusalem is an occupied territory, and its Palestinian residents are protected persons within the meaning of Article 4 of the Fourth Geneva Convention," the statement added.

Ahmad Attoun had taken shelter in the ICRC building along with another Hamas legislator and a former Hamas government minister after Israeli authorities revoked their Jerusalem residency permits.

An Israeli police spokesman and a security guard at the ICRC building said paramilitary police disguised as Palestinians had grabbed Attoun at the entrance to the offices and arrested him.

Attoun was taken into custody a day after President Mahmoud Abbas mentioned the men's case in a speech on his return to the occupied West Bank from the United Nations, where he applied for recognition of full Palestinian statehood.

The other two Hamas men remained inside the ICRC building.

In the speech, Abbas accused Israel of "ethnic cleansing" that included "decisions to expel elected representatives" from Jerusalem.

In a statement issued in June 2010, after Israel ordered them to leave Jerusalem, the three Hamas men wrote: "We as sons of Jerusalem have never left it before ... we emphasize that we will remain here and never leave it."

The ICRC said it had informed the three Hamas members that ICRC premises had no special status and the ICRC could not prevent police entering the building to arrest them.

Reuters contributed to this report

IOF soldiers arrest Palestinian woman, six other Jerusalemites

[ 19/09/2011 - 08:51 AM ]

OCCUPIED JERUSALEM, (PIC)-- Israeli occupation forces (IOF) arrested a Palestinian woman from occupied Jerusalem alleging that she was planning to smuggle mobile phones to Palestinian prisoners. An IOF statement on Sunday said that the woman, who was not named, was detained in Afula, in northern occupied Palestine 1948, with four mobile phones in her possession, which she was planning to smuggle to Palestinian prisoners. It said that the 35-year-old woman was also in possession of 32000 shekels, which she intended to bribe jailors with in order to allow the smuggling of those phones. The statement noted that a former Palestinian prisoner was also arrested with the same charge, adding that they would appear at Nazareth central court on Monday. Meanwhile, Israeli security forces arrested six Jerusalemite youths in the Old City of occupied Jerusalem on Sunday at the pretext they threw stones at Jewish settlers’ houses in the Islamic suburb late last week.

Israel Presents Lists Of Detainees It Won’t Release

Friday September 09, 2011 11:53 by Saed Bannoura - IMEMC & Agencies

The Al Hayat Paper in London reported Friday that a third round of indirect prisoner-swap talks was held in Cairo last Tuesday under direct Egyptian supervision mediating between the Hamas movement and Israel, in an attempt to reach a prisoner swap deal. Yet, Israel presented a list of detainees it will not release under any condition.

Palestinian Detainees - Image Palestinian Prisoners Society

Al Hayat reported that Cairo prepared a draft that includes all points of agreement, and new ideas that are said to help advance prisoner swap talks that would ensure the release of Israeli soldier Gilad Shalit in exchange for the release of hundreds of Palestinian detainees imprisoned by Israel.

Israel agreed to release all female prisoners, and Arab-Palestinian prisoners from Jerusalem and the 1948 territories (Israel).

During previous rounds of talks, Israel presented a list that contains the names of 120 detainees that it will not release under all circumstances. But according to the new report, the list dropped to 40 detainees.

The Al Hayat further reported that Israel also agreed to reduce the number of detainees it insists on deporting out of Palestine.

It is worth mentioning that the Hamas negotiations team is headed by Ahmad Al Ja’bary, a senior leader of the Al Qassam Brigades, the armed wing of Hamas, and David Midan, representing the Israeli Prime Minister.

Corporal Gilad Shalit was captured when three Palestinian resistance groups in Gaza carried out a cross border raid on a military base in June 2006; two Israeli soldiers and two fighters were killed.

Shalit is the only Israeli prisoner in Palestinian hands; Israel is holding captive more than 7500 Palestinians, including dozens of women and children.

 

Israeli court releases politician to house arrest

JERUSALEM (Ma’an) – An Israeli military court sentenced on Monday a Palestinian politician from Jerusalem to house arrest for 30 days.

The Palestinian Popular Struggle Front said in a statement that Awni Abu Ghosh was sent to house arrest Monday just after he was released from Israeli custody.

Abu Ghosh is secretary of the PPSF’s politburo and member of the central and the national councils of the PLO. He was detained in September at Atara checkpoint.

The statement slammed the decision describing it as part of a racist policy against Palestinian leaders to restrict their movement as the PA struggles to achieve recognition of statehood.

Fatah says secretary detained in Silwan

Published Wednesday 14/09/2011 (updated) 15/09/2011 17:04   RAMALLAH (Ma’an) -- Israeli forces detained Fatah secretary Adnan Ghaith in the Jerusalem neighborhood of Silwan on Wednesday, a party official said. Ghaith was expelled from Jerusalem in January by Israeli authorities and banned from entering the city for eight months. He was arrested hours after returning to Jerusalem. Muneer Aj-Jaghob, a Fatah spokesman, said Israeli intelligence summoned Ghaith for interrogation. Israel aims to empty Jerusalem of its Palestinian citizens through a policy of deportation, Aj-Jaghoub added. An Israeli border police spokesman could not be reached for comment.

Israeli court sentences two Jerusalemite minors to jail

[ 08/09/2011 - 08:43 AM ]

OCCUPIED JERUSALEM, (PIC)-- The Israeli central court in occupied Jerusalem sentenced two Palestinian Jerusalemite minors to 15 months behind bars for throwing stones at Israeli vehicles. The court verdict passed on Thursday said that the two minors from Silwan, occupied Jerusalem, threw stones at an Israeli vehicle and injured its passengers. The Israel radio said that the court ruling also ordered the minors to pay 30000 shekels to the injured persons.

Israeli forces detain Hamas lawmaker

RAMALLAH (Ma'an) -- Israeli forces detained Hamas legislator Mohammed Abu Teir on Tuesday, army officials said.

Israeli soldiers ransacked Abu Teir's home in Kafr Aqab, south of Ramallah, before detaining the elected official, a Ma'an correspondent reported.

An Israeli military spokesman said Abu Teir was detained on Tuesday but could not immediately comment on the reason for his arrest.

Former PA Minister of Jerusalem affairs Khalid Abu Arafa told Ma’an he was concerned about Abu Teir's fate after Israel withdrew his Jerusalem identity card.

In December, an Israeli court expelled Abu Teir to Ramallah from his home in Jerusalem for the second time, after four months in jail for defying a previous ban.

He was previously arrested on June 30, 2010 for entering East Jerusalem after the interior ministry stripped him of his residence permit for his activity in Hamas.

Following Abu Teir's deportation to Ramallah in December, UN officials expressed concern. Robert Serry, UN Special Coordinator for the Middle East Peace Process, said he was "worried" about the "potential precedent" that the trial set.

Abu Teir was elected to the Palestinian parliament from East Jerusalem in 2006 when Hamas won a landslide victory over the secular Fatah movement of Western-backed President Mahmoud Abbas.

Israel occupied East Jerusalem during the 1967 Middle East war and unilaterally annexed it shortly after. About 200,000 Palestinians live there.

Israel regards the whole of Jerusalem as its "eternal, indivisible" capital, while the Palestinians lay claim to its eastern sector as the capital of their promised state.

2 brothers released from Israeli custody

JERUSALEM (Ma’an) – Israeli authorities have released two brothers from Jerusalem, Hamed and Muhammad Abu Sneineh.

The brothers were on their way back home from Jordan when they were detained for several hours and taken for investigations.

The brothers told a Ma’an correspondent that they were handed a warning to see the intelligence on Wednesday.

The Israeli Court Deferred the Sentence of Deportation to Next July

The International Campaign for Releasing the Abducted MPs states that the Israeli court  which is called “ Supreme   Court”  decided to appeal in the case of the Jerusalemite MPs in 26th of next July.

The campaign assured that postponing the sentence of the deportation is clear evidence  of the lack of justifications of the Israeli Minister of Interior  to confiscate their identities.

It stressed the need of the International stands to stop the arbitrary decisions of the occupation against the symbols of legitimacy.

It is worth mentioning that the Israeli occupation delayed the sentence of the Jerusalemite MPS ( Muhammad Totah and Ahmad Atoun ) and the former minister , Khalid Abu Arafah, during the session held four days ago.

Israel’s release of Palestinian political prisoners could boost peace prospects – Ban

 UN news center

7 March 2011 – Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon today called for urgently addressing the plight of the thousands of Palestinian political prisoners detained by Israel, saying it is an important issue in the search for a just and lasting peace between the two sides. When Mr. Ban visited the occupied Palestinian territory and Israel a year ago, he had expressed concerns about the Palestinian prisoners held in Israeli detention facilities, and publicly urged Israel to release prisoners as called for by the Palestinian Authority.
“Such a release would serve as a significant confidence-building measure,” he stated today in a message to the United Nations International Meeting on the Question of Palestine that opened in Vienna, adding the world body will continue to raise the issue with the Israeli leadership.
Nearly 100 representatives of Governments, parliaments, intergovernmental organizations, lawyers, civil society and UN agencies are taking part in the two-day meeting, whose theme is “The urgency of addressing the plight of Palestinian political prisoners in Israeli prisons and detention facilities.”
In his message – which was delivered by Maxwell Gaylard, Deputy UN Special Coordinator for the Middle East Peace Process and UN Resident and Humanitarian Coordinator for the occupied Palestinian territory – Mr. Ban said the UN continues to follow closely the well-being of those in detention, including some 200 minors and 200 individuals held in administrative detention without trial.
He also noted with concern that elected Palestinian representatives have been detained by Israel, and that even after their release, three from East Jerusalem are under threat of forcible transfer and are residing at the Red Cross premises, while another has been deported to Ramallah.
“The United Nations opposes measures of forcible transfer and remains engaged on this issue, which has broader implications for the human rights of Palestinian East Jerusalemites,” he stated.
The Secretary-General also reiterated the calls of the UN for humanitarian access to be granted to Israeli Staff Sergeant Gilat Shalit, who has been held captive by Palestinian militants for over four years, and for his release.
“Momentous changes are sweeping the region, and it is deeply frustrating that efforts to achieve Israeli-Palestinian peace remain at an impasse,” the Secretary-General said, adding that among the main obstacles are settlements, which are illegal and contrary to the Road Map peace plan that seeks to establish a two-State solution of Israel and Palestine living side by side in peace and security within recognized borders.
“It remains Israel’s obligation to freeze settlement activity,” he said, calling on the international community to intensify efforts to help the parties overcome the current obstacles and achieve a comprehensive, just and lasting peace.

Nafha prisoners go on warning hunger strike

[ 24/10/2010 - 04:00 PM ]

RAMALLAH / JERUSALEM, (PIC)-- Inmates in the Israeli Nafha prison went on a warning hunger strike on Saturday for one day in cooperation with all of the political persuasions in the prison, rights groups in Palestine said. Sources said the strike was in protest of recent recurring night raids carried out by the prison administration on prisoners’ cells and the prison’s solitary confinement policy, and  to improve poor jail conditions. The Prisoners’ Supporters organization quoted one prison leader there as saying that the strike was a warning message to the general directorate of the prison to change its policies against prisoners, stop abuse, and improve conditions. “The conditions in the prisons are in a state of turmoil… The Palestinian community must move with its political and social components to stand by its war prisoners,” said Ramzi Al Najjar, vice president of the Prisoners' Supporters organization. In other developments, Sunday marks nine years of detention for Ibtesam Mohammed Issawi, the Tadhamon (Solidarity) Foundation for Human Rights said. Tadhamon researcher Ahmed Al Beitawi said Isssawi was taken by police from her home in Jebel Al Mobakkir near Jerusalem on Oct. 24, 2001 and was then transferred to several interrogation centers before being sentenced to 15 years in prison on charges of resisting Israeli occupation. Issawi’s parents are living in Jordan and have been prohibited from visiting her since the first day of her detention. The Israeli prison authority has denied several requests by her to talk to her parents on the phone. Issawi, who languishes in the Damon prison, is a wife and mother of six children. Three women from Jerusalem remain in Israeli jails. They have been identified as: Sina Mohammed Shahada, who is serving 3 life sentences and 30 years, Nada Ata Dirbas, who faces 6 years, and Sabirin Ismail Meshaal.

Prisoners’ dean calls on Saudi king to defend Jerusalem

[ 12/09/2010 - 11:18 AM ]

OCCUPIED JERUSALEM, (PIC)-- The dean of Jerusalem prisoners Fouad al-Razim  called on Saudi King Abdullah bin Abdul-Aziz in a statement published by the center for prisoners’ studies to protect Jerusalem from Judaization and settlement activity. The longtime prisoner said that may be accomplished by backing construction and restoration projects in Jerusalem, exploiting ties with the U.S., EU, and other influential states to pressure Israel to stop ongoing violations against the Aqsa mosque, Jerusalem, and its citizens, and putting Arab pressure on Israel to stop demolition of Arab homes and Islamic sites. Razim showed gratitude to King Abdullah for continued efforts in backing the Palestinian cause. The Saudi king invited the families of martyrs to a feast of honor a year back and sponsored 2,000 family members of Palestinian prisoners in making hajj this year. Razim said he hopes all Arab leaders will move in the same direction and hold conferences covering the issues of Jerusalem and Palestinian prisoners in Israel, internationalize prisoners’ issues, honor their families, and expose Israeli violations against them. Originally from Silwan, Jerusalem, Razim has been in prison since Jan. 30, 1981.

Israel to release 2 Hamas lawmakers

HEBRON (Ma'an) -- Israel will release two Hamas lawmakers from Hebron on Thursday, after being held in Israeli custody for 56 months without charge.

The men were held in detention, and had the period of their detention extended four times by an Israeli court.

On 16 August, an Israeli court reduced the sentences of Nezar Ramadan and Azzam Salhab, Hamas-affiliated officials elected to the Palestinian Legislative Council, by eight days.

The court ruled that the Hamas MPs should be released on 8 September instead of 16 September, their original release date.

In June, recently-released Hamas MP Mohammad Abu Teir was detained near his home in East Jerusalem after Israel's interior ministry revoked his residency rights over his political affiliation.

Abu Teir was remanded into custody until his trial in November, after he was indicted for illegally residing in Jerusalem following his decision not to adhere to a deportation order handed down to him and three other elected Hamas officials.

Jerusalem man charged with contacting Hamas

BETHLEHEM (Ma'an) -- A Palestinian resident of East Jerusalem has been indicted for contacting Hamas operatives during his studies in Cyprus and allegedly agreeing to gather intelligence on Israel, Israeli media reported Monday.

The indictment filed by the Jerusalem District Prosecution said Ahmad Awad, 22, became acquainted with two Hamas affiliates from Gaza with one identified as Hamad Asham introducing him to the Jerusalem Muslim Brotherhood, the Israeli news site Ynet reported.

The indictment read that Awad was told Hamas would fund half of his university tuition and living expenses in exchange for information, Ynet reported. Going by the name Khaled, Awad was asked to compile reports, submitting one on his neighborhood, the indictment says. He and Asham were arrested when they returned from Turkey to Israel, according to the report.

Tonge asks British premier to step in and halt deportation of Jerusalemite MPs

[ 10/08/2010 - 05:46 PM ]

LONDON, (PIC)-- The head of the European campaign to release detained Palestinian MPs in Israeli jails Baroness Jennifer Tonge has asked British premier David Cameron to step in and demand reversal of the Israeli decision to deport Palestinian MPs from their hometown Jerusalem. She said in a message to the premier that the Israeli detention and deportation of the Palestinian MPs was meant to punish them for winning legislative elections the integrity of which was witnessed by the entire world. The MP expressed dismay at the British government for refusing to support democracy in Palestine despite its criticism of other countries for violating democracy. Tonge described the Israeli deportation and other violations in Jerusalem as a model for "world hypocrisy". She called for practical steps against the Israeli repeated violations of the Jerusalemite deputies, adding that Israel should be prosecuted for violation of the international law, UN resolutions, and the Geneva conventions.

MP Mohammed Abu Teir trial postponed until November

[ 28/07/2010 - 04:00 PM ]

OCCUPIED JERUSALEM, (PIC)-- The Israeli court decided during a hearing Wednesday to postpone the trial of Jerusalem MP Mohammed Abu Teir until November 22, 2010. The court gathered at 9:00am Wednesday to prosecute the Palestinian Legislative Council member on charges of “remaining in the city of Jerusalem without an official permit,” after the Israeli decision to withdraw his identity card. MP Ahmed Attoun said in a press statement: “[Israel] persists to pass [laws] to exile us, and MP Abu Teir’s trial comes in the framework of pressure practiced against us to force us to execute decisions amid weak official positions among Arabs and no practical action to resolve our problem.” MP Attoun reiterated that the Palestinian MPs stand firm in not leaving the occupied city of Jerusalem, adding that MP Abu Teir prefers remaining in prison to signing for his own exile. He called on the people of Jerusalem to stand in front of the Israeli Magistrate court  to deliver the message to the world that “we are gathered to stand against the decision to exile our representatives in the Holy City.” Abu Teir’s attorney, Osama Sa’di said: “The defense team will be in recognition of the facts contained in the indictment, and confirm that international law applies to Jerusalem, as it is an occupied city, and the Geneva Conventions prohibit deportation.” He said that this is seventh time within two months that Abu Teir appeared in court after Israel’s decision to withdraw the identity cards of three Jerusalem MPs: Abu Teir, Ahmed Attoun, and Mohammed Toutah, and former Jerusalem minister, Abu Arafah. Abu Teir trial delayed until November Published yesterday (updated) 28/07/2010 18:31 Jerusalem - Ma'an - An Israeli court deferred until 22 November on Wednesday the trial of a Palestinian lawmaker from Jerusalem who has been remanded in Israeli custody since his detention in May. Mohammad Abu Teir's trial was postponed because of an Israeli Supreme Court hearing on 9 September to discuss the case, prompting the Magistrate's Court to delay the lawmaker's hearing until the higher court rules. As a result, the lawmaker will be kept in custody pending trial, his legal team said. The court filed indictments against Abu Teir, including the charge that he is illegally residing in Jerusalem after the Israeli Interior Ministry revoked his residency rights shortly after his release from prison in May. Abu Teir's legal team rejected the charges. Lawyer Usama As-Sa'di, who is heading Abu Teir's defense, said he will present arguments based on international law because East Jerusalem is considered occupied territory, as well as the Geneva Convention preventing expulsion of the occupied population. In May, Israel announced it was stripping Abu Teir, Ahmad Atoun, Mohammad Totah, and Khaled Abu Arafeh -- all Hamas-affiliated lawmakers -- of their residency rights and issuing a deadline for them to leave the city. The three other lawmakers have been holding a sit-in at the International Committee for the Red Cross headquarters in Sheikh Jarrah since the decision was announced. Speaking with Ma'an's correspondent following the decision, Attoun called on Jerusalem residents to gather outside the trial to convey to the world "that we stand against the decision to deport Jerusalem's lawmakers."