The Israeli Military Governor in the West Bank has signed a military order expelling Palestinian Legislative Council Member and Addameer board member Khalida Jarrar to Jericho for a period of six months, with immediate effect.
At 1.30 A.M on 20 August 2014 approximately 50 Israeli occupying soldiers surrounded Jarrar’s home in Ramallah. An Israeli captain then proceeded to hand Jarrar an order which states that Jarrar must not leave the district of Jericho for the next six months and can only leave with the express permission of the Israeli military commander in the West Bank. Accompanying the order was a map outlining the boundaries of Jericho district. The order states, based on secret information, that Jarrar is a threat to the security of the area. She was given 24 hours to leave Ramallah. Jarrar refused to sign the order.
Jarrar was elected to the Palestinian Legislative Council (PLC) in January 2006 and has continued to serve as an elected representative ever since. She is also the Palestinian representative on the Council of Europe and is head of the Prisoners Committee of the PLC.
Jarrar has been a prominent human rights activist for many years. She previously served as the director of Addameer from 1993 to 2005 and remains a board member. She has also previously worked with UNRWA and has been active working with Palestinian women.
Since 1998 Jarrar has been banned from travelling outside of the occupied Palestinian territory, expect for one occasion in 2010 when she travelled to Jordan for medical treatment. Jarrar is married with two children. She has a received her B.A and Masters in human right and democracy from Bir Zeit university.
The order is based on Israeli Military Order 1651 Article 297 (2009) and is based on the accusation that Jarrar is “dangerous to the general security of the area.” As is standard with Military Orders and the decisions of Maj. Gen. Nitzan Alon, GOC Central Command, the order does not explain or clarify the danger that Jarrar poses.
Jarrar lives in Ramallah, which according to the Oslo Agreements between the Palestinian Liberation Organization and the occupation, is considered “Area A” and under complete Palestinian control. By allowing Israeli occupying forces to enter Ramallah means that in effect the so-called ‘security co-ordination’ between Palestinian Authority security forces and Israeli occupying forces allowed for the expulsion of an elected representative of the Palestinian people, an elected representative who has continuously called for an end to such ‘coordination’.
The order to expel Jarrar to Jericho violates Article (42) of Geneva Convention IV which is applied to the occupied Palestinian territory, and states “The internment or placing in assigned residence of protected persons may be ordered only if the security of the Detaining Power makes it absolutely necessary.”[1]
The decision of the Maj. General also violates Article (49), which prohibits forced collective or individual transfer of protected persons, or banning from them from the occupied territory to the territory of the Occupying Power, under any circumstance.
This is not the first instance the Occupation has forcibly transferred Palestinian Legislative Council members who have been democratically elected. In 2010, three PLC members, Mohammad Abu Teer, Ahmad ‘Atoun and Mohammad Totah, as well as Minister of Jerusalem Affairs Khalid Abu Arafeh were deported from their homes in Jerusalem to Ramallah. Shortly after, all four were arrested by the Occupation and placed under administrative detention, which is detention without charge or trial.
If any person, acting through the representatives of the Protecting Power, voluntarily demands internment and if his situation renders this step necessary, he shall be interned by the Power in whose hands he may be.
