The Palestinian Authority on Sunday slammed Israel's announcement of residency revocation and expulsion of four Jerusalem-based legislators.
"We strongly condemn the recent orders to deny Jerusalemites their right to live in their own city", the chief Palestinian negotiator Sa'eb Erekat said in a press statement.
He added that "this revocation of rights is hardly an isolated policy. Since Israel's occupation of the Palestinian territory began in 1967, it has carried out a systematic policy aimed at expelling Palestinians from East Jerusalem."
Erekat was referring to the revocation of residency and expulsion of Palestinian Legislative Council (PLC) members, Mohammad Abu Tir, Mohammad Totah, Khaled Abu Arafeh, and Ahmad Atoun.
The Jerusalem police in June confiscated the Israeli identity cards of the four legislators, all members of Hamas, and gave them until July to leave the disputed city after they refused to meet Israeli demands to give up their duties within the Hamas-dominated PLC.
"In the past two years alone, over 5,000 Palestinians have been stripped of their residency rights in Jerusalem, and today hundreds of Palestinian families live under the threat of having their homes demolished while illegal settlements continue to be built on occupied land", Erekat said.
He added that the Israeli authorities demolished 103 homes in East Jerusalem in 2009.
Referring to the Israeli reports that the decision was made based on security considerations, Erekat said, "the order has nothing to do with security but with the consolidation of an apartheid system where Jews from all over the world are allowed to enter freely and enjoy rights in Jerusalem while the indigenous Palestinians of the city are denied the right to live on their own land."
Erekat stressed that the Israeli order against the legislators "is not only a threat to the individuals affected, but also a threat against the two state solution and the entire peace process. Israel cannot continue to act above the law."
"Upon President Mahmoud Abbas' request, I conveyed the message to the American administration and to the Israeli side that revocation of identity cards is a form of collective punishment. It results in severing families, and it constitutes an attack against Palestinian democracy."
Erekat said: "our vision for peace includes a shared Jerusalem that is the capital of two states. The Israeli vision for the city as evidenced by Israeli actions is an exclusive one. Until Israel recognizes Palestinian rights in the city, peace will be elusive for all involved."
Meanwhile, the Jerusalem police used an order signed by the commissioner to shut down an office in East Jerusalem suspected to have been used by Hamas. No violent incidents were reported
(Source: Arab News, Jeddah, Saudi Arabia)By Mohammed Mar'I, Arab News, Jeddah, Saudi Arabia
