JERUSALEM (AP) – The Israeli parliament on Wednesday overwhelmingly passed a law that would strip and deport Arabs convicted of nationalist attacks on Israeli citizenship or residency if they accepted scholarships from the Palestinian authorities.
The decision, which could affect hundreds of Palestinian citizens and Israeli residents, has been denounced as racist by Arab lawmakers and Palestinian officials in the occupied West Bank.
Internationally recognized Palestinian authorities have long provided subsidies to Palestinian families killed or imprisoned in attacks on Israelis.
Prisoners are widely recognized as heroes of Palestinian society, and PA sees these payments as a form of welfare for families in need. But Israel says they reward violence and incentivize others to carry out attacks. About 4,700 Palestinians are being held in Israel on suspicion of security crimes, according to Israeli human rights group HaMoked. About 360 of them are Israeli citizens or residents of East Jerusalem, which was conquered and annexed by Israel in the 1967 Middle East War.
Israel considers all of Jerusalem as an undivided capital, but annexation of the eastern part of the city is not internationally recognized. Most Palestinians in Jerusalem have Israeli residency, which allows them to work and travel freely and access Israeli social services, but they do not have full citizenship to vote.
In Wednesday’s poll, parliament voted 94 to 10 in favor of a law that would give authorities the right to deprive people of their citizenship or residency and deport them to the neighboring West Bank or Gaza. rice field. The Palestinian Authority has limited autonomy in parts of the West Bank where Israel exercises overall control. Gaza, meanwhile, is ruled by the militant group Hamas and is largely shut down by Israeli and Egyptian blockades.
“Israeli citizens and residents who have not only betrayed the state and Israeli society, but who have agreed to continue to receive and benefit from PA payments as rewards for committing acts of terrorism, continue to detain Israelis. “Citizenship or immigration status” is one of the reasons for the bill.
Jewish parliamentarians from all political spheres, including the opposition, voted in favor of the bill, while Arab parliamentarians voted against it.
Arab lawmaker Ahmad Tibi said the law was racist because it only applied to Palestinians convicted of violence. “Arabs who commit crimes are conditional citizens,” he said. “If a Jew were to commit the same crime, or a more serious crime, he wouldn’t even consider stripping him of his citizenship.”
Kadula Fares, president of the Palestinian Prisoners’ Club, a group of prisoners in the West Bank and their families, said the law would “put Palestinians in towns and villages under the guise of receiving social support.” “It’s a very dangerous decision aimed at pushing us out of the country.
Israeli rights group HaMoked said 140 Arab citizens and 211 Jerusalem residents could be affected by the law.
Residents of Jerusalem are particularly at risk because they have little legal protection to fight the order.
In another case, Israel recently expelled Palestinians from East Jerusalem to France after claiming they belonged to a banned extremist group. HaMoked executive director Jessica Montell said, “It is shameful that this law was passed, and it was enacted with the support of an overwhelming majority of opponents.” and the suspension and deportation of Palestinians from East Jerusalem is a war crime.”
