The Israeli government has decided it will try to take away from the four elected Hamas lawmakers who are residents of Jerusalem the ID cards that allow them to live in the city of their foreparents.
Political revocation of people’s rights to reside in their ancestral cities… Does this not a strike a chord of memory with many Jews? Where might it end?
Israel claims the step is “in response to” the ghastly terror attack that on Monday killed nine people in downtown Tel Aviv. The Israeli government makes no claim that the four legislators are in any way criminally linked to the perpetrators of the terror attack, which was claimed by the Islamic Jihad organization. But Hamas had failed to denounce the attack, arguing that it constituted “legitimate self-defense.”
I happen to strongly disagree with the Hamas leaders’ argument on that score. But still, it seems to me that for the Israeli government to turn round and, in effect, expel these elected Hamas lawmakers from their home city simply because their party has failed to jump through a rhetorical hoop established by the Israeli government is a quite unjustifiable action… There are fears, too, that it could be the lip of a much larger-scale “slippery slope” of anti-Palestinian ethnic cleansing from Jerusalem.
The Palestinian Justice Minister has said he will appeal against the Israeli ruling to the International Court of Justice. I’m not sure whether (a) the PA has standing as a plaintiff at the ICJ, which only hears cases brought by established governments, and (b) whether this is the kind of case–involving, as it does, individuals, albeit lawmakers– that the ICJ would hear anyway?
First, anyway, the threatened MPs will be appealing to the Israeli Supreme Court.
Meanwhile, I see from HaAretz that four Palestinian-Israeli Members of the Israeli Knesset went to visit three of the threatened Hamas lawmakers today, in a show of solidarity.
4 thoughts on “Political revocation of Palestinians’ residency rights in Jerusalem”
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You could argue that evicting people is better than killing a whole bunch. Hamas has taken a far too supportive stand toward the Kassam rocketeers and the killing of the 9 at the falafel stand, so Israel felt it had to do “Something”.
One could argue that it would be more logical to shoot up some of the Islamic Jihad people, as they are behind both the Kassams and the falafel killings. I’m getting the deep impression that the Middle East is not conducive to logic, however.
“You could argue?” Never mund the hypothetical. That’s what the Israeli settlers have been “arguing” since at least 1948 – i.e. “go away or we’ll kill you”.
That approach followed the previous one which was: “A land without people for a people without land”.
Of course there’s not a “whole bunch” of difference. In both versions the point is the colonial settlers take over the land.
The Middle East is run by the same logic that dictated American history in the 19th century. Newcomers want land, so they take it. The original inhabitants want to keep it, so they fight back. Neither side seems too shy about committing atrocities.
But regarding the latest outrage, if the Hamas government can’t even bring itself to pay lip service to the notion that killing civilians is wrong, then it’s hard to see how a peace agreement is possible until they change their position. Not that I think any more highly of the Israelis, who have somehow managed to kill far more civilians with their purity of arms, but if Hamas can’t learn to condemn Israeli crimes without defending the crimes of its own people than the simple fact is they aren’t going to accomplish anything. They don’t have American backing and can’t afford the luxury of ruthlessness.
Besides, its wrong, not that that seems to mean much.
Hammas is a terror group that gives shelter to other Palestinian terror groups and as such is taking partnership in any Palestinian terror act against Israel. Further more, the political aim of that group is to annihilate Israel and erase here from the face of the world. Something which similar to the Iranian’s Ahmadinajad wishes.
Israel just considers to take away from the four elected Hamas ‘lawmakers’ (? what laws? to permitt suicide bombing by UN laws? /) who are residents of Jerusalem the ID cards and not their stay and living in Jerusalem (the city of their foreparents? how? like Arafat)/