Hamas leader: Israel seeks to expel indigenous people

Hamas leader:

Israel seeks to expel indigenous people

Published today (updated) 17/04/2010 12:14

Gaza – Ma'an –

Hamas is vowing to fight Israel's new military orders with popular and armed resistance.

Ismail Radwan, a senior Hamas official, called on followers to confront the Israeli move "until this decision is cancelled." He considered the decision racist and aimed at "clearing the land of its indigenous people."

Speaking at a ceremony commemorating the 6th anniversary of the death of Abed Al-Aziz Al-Rantisi, Radwan urged the Palestinian Authority "to end security coordination with the occupation -- unleash the resistance."

He called on the resistance to abduct more Israeli soldiers in order to release more Palestinian prisoners, noting that freeing detainees is a top priority for the Islamic movement.

Ahmed Bahar, the deputy parliament speaker, said "Israel's decision to expel Palestinians from the West Bank is here to assure us that the Oslo Accords are nullified, as well as the Palestinian Authority based in Ramallah."

He urged the PA to dismantle itself "to legitimize the resistance under international humanitarian law."

Gaza; Thousands Protest Against Israeli Deportation Orders

Saturday April 17, 2010 01:25 by Saed Bannoura - IMEMC & Agencies

The Hamas and Islamic Jihad Movements organized on Thursday massive processions in the Gaza Strip in solidarity with the Palestinian detainees imprisoned by Israel, and against Israel’s decision to deport Palestinians, and detainees, from the West Bank.

Several Palestinian Legislators and Hamas leaders participated in the procession while the residents chanted in support to the detainees and calling for abducting Israeli soldiers to trade them with Palestinian detainees.

Saber Abu Karsh, head of the Waed Society For Detainees And Liberated, called on the Palestinian institutions to participate in commemorating the Palestinian Prisoners Day on April 17.

In Khan Younis, in the southern part of the Gaza Strip, the Islamic Jihad Movement organized a protest against the deportation orders and in solidarity with the Palestinian detainees.

Dr. Muhammed Al-Hindi, one of the political leaders of the Islamic Jihad, stated that the Prisoners Day should be the day of National Unity and Palestinian Reconciliation.

Al-Hindi added that Israel’s political and ideological priority is not to reach a peace settlement, but to ethnically cleanse the Palestinian and Arabs from Jerusalem and the rest of Palestine.

Hamas leader, Ismail Radwan, stated that the Palestinians will counter the illegal Israeli decisions and violations with popular resistance and armed struggle.

His statements were made as Hamas was marking the sixth anniversary of the assassination of Dr. Abdul-Aziz Al-Rantissi.

He called on the Palestinian Authority in the West Bank to halt any talks or
coordination with Israel and to allow the resistance to act without restrictions.
Radwan also called for releasing all political prisoners, imprisoned by the Fat'h-run Palestinian Authority in the West Bank.

Who Israel's new military orders will affect

Published yesterday (updated) 16/04/2010 20:54

Bethlehem - Ma'an -

The universally condemned Israeli military orders revealed on Sunday by Israeli human rights group B'Tselem, went into effect on Tuesday, but have yet to be used in the deportation of any Palestinian in the West Bank.

The new regulations, under Israeli military order number 1650, expanded the definition of an "infiltrator" to any person residing in the West Bank without Israeli permission. The revelation of the order sparked wide interpretations of who would be targeted by the new rules.

PA Minister of Civil Affairs Hussein Al-Shaikh said Tuesday that the new order "is not applicable to Gazans living or working in the West Bank; it is related to those who obtain a visa to visit Israel, who then won't be allowed to enter the West Bank."

According to the Gaza-based Al-Mezan Center for Human Rights, however, the order is directed at "what appear to be specific groups, which include Palestinians from Gaza and their offspring as well as foreign citizens who support the rights of the Palestinian people and stay in the West Bank."

A statement from the organization, released on Wednesday, compiled statements from several Gaza residents who believe they will be targeted by the new orders. Despite PA reassurances that they will not be, confusion predominates fears.

The Al-Mezan report quoted one man, registered as a resident of Gaza who currently lives with his family in the West Bank, as saying that: "The Israeli order will destroy our lives. We will live as if we live in a huge prison even if we are not deported to Gaza. No one would dare to leave the city or to go from town to town afraid of the Israeli checkpoints. Who would keep his/her job in this unstable situation."

According to Al-Mezan's monitoring of Israeli press statements and general comments from officials on the matter, the orders authorize Israeli forces to deport any Palestinian who a holds Gazan identity card and expatriates visiting the West Bank.

The center's report said the new order "violates the right of Palestinians to free movement, travel and residence in their own country. It violates the right to protection and assistance accorded to the family and, in particular, children; the right to marry and start a family; and the right not to be subjected to arbitrary or unlawful interference with his family."

Specificity, the organization said, the order will affect spouses who have moved to be with their partners in the West Bank. Men and women who do not have West Bank in their ID card, or are foreign nationals who have been unsuccessful in their attempts to secure family reunification permits (approximately 5,000 of which are granted to Palestinians by Israeli officials each year), are at risk for deportation. There is no legal way for a Palestinian in the West Bank to transfer residency rights to a spouse or children born outside of the area.

"I had a fairly stable life before I heard about the Israeli order. Now I'm terrified and I feel insecure," Al-Mezan quoted Hikmat, a Palestinian woman from Gaza married to a man holding a West Bank ID card, as saying.

"I now ask myself: Could I hold my children between my arms and see them in the future? Would it be possible to stay with my husband? Is my relationship with my husband subject to the forcible segregation? Would it be possible for me to stay at my work? I became terrified of leaving the area in which I live afraid of being kidnapped at the Israeli checkpoints… I love Gaza and longing to visit my family there… but they (Israelis) have turned all our hopes into hell. Seeing your parents and family but being deprived of seeing your husband and children means hell, is not it? This is what will happen to me if I am deported from the West Bank," she told Al-Mezan.

A second Palestinian woman from Gaza married to West Bank ID holder, said her plans to have a second child were quickly put on hold when the military orders came out. "Quiet and safety are replaced by fear. I will not give birth to another child. ..I will not bear a child who will lose his family... a child who could be forced to live with one his parents," she was quoted as saying.

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