information referred to in Article Even Tony Blair can not save Palestinian Bookseller to the Stars , Nazareth who wrote the journalist and author Jonathan Cook, and which in its entirety on English can be read on the link .
14th travanj 2011th
Munther Fahmi, the famous "Jerusalem bookseller" among its customers are Tony Blair, Kofi Annan, Jimmy Carter and Uma Thurman, and whose Jerusalem bookstore represented an oasis of dialogue between the Palestinians and Israel, in which famous writers and intellectuals from both sides regularly appeared and talked about his work, soon, in spite of all their respectable acquaintances, he could be expelled from Jerusalem.
Israeli officials told him that after 16 years selling books in East Jerusalem, is no longer welcome in Israel nor in Jerusalem.
2 months ago Fahmi has exhausted all his available remedies when an Israeli high court refused to cancel the order for his deportation. The only remaining hope for him now is a government committee which asked for help on humanitarian grounds. However, there has high hopes for a positive outcome, because it the lawyer warned that the Palestinians requests are almost never accepted.
Munther Fahmi (57) for many years has a U.S. passport in Jerusalem residence with a tourist visa, which expired in third April. "Fahmi was just one among thousands of Palestinians to cancel the policy affects their right to live in Jerusalem, which Israel carried out more than 40 years," said Dalia Kerstein from the Israeli human rights organizations Hamoked.
Although Israel 1967th , in contradiction with international law, annexed east Jerusalem, the majority Palestinian population in the area only received Israeli permission to live in Jerusalem, and not citizenship.
According to Israeli data, since then the Israeli government the right to reside in Jerusalem, abolished more than 13 000 Palestinians - from the 260 000 who are currently living in East Jerusalem.
Ms. Kerstein said that the number of Palestinians who abolished the right of residence increased sharply in recent years, and that was only in 2008. The more than 4500 Palestinians have lost their rights to live in Jerusalem, until last year still does not have complete data.
According to Israeli law, Palestinians in Jerusalem can lose their right to permanent residence if you are abroad (including Palestinian territory occupied West Bank and Gaza Strip) spend at least 7 years or if you have a passport.
Israeli courts since 1988. was confirmed by abolishing the right of residence in cases where the authorities claimed that the Palestinians which abolishes the right to live in Jerusalem, changed its "center of life".
"It is obvious that there is no policy of repression of Palestinians from Jerusalem and Israel to reduce what is referred to as" Palestinian demographic threat ", said Ms. Kerstein. "It is actually about ethnic cleansing."
Last week the Hamoked and ACRI - also one of the Israeli Association for Human Rights - Israel's Supreme Court submitted a request to revoke this policy, arguing that it violates international law. ACRI-jev attorney Oded Feller said that the Palestinians in East Jerusalem is actually "prisoners" that Israel is punished if you participate in a globalized world.
"The problem is that the Israeli government and the courts by people like Munther treated as immigrants, ignoring the fact that they, as indigenous inhabitants of this city, have an inalienable right to live in it," said Ms. Kerstein.
Like most Palestinians in East Jerusalem, Mr Fahmija family in 1967. was refused Israeli citizenship. "We are Palestinians, while Israel occupies us. Why should we take citizenship and thus gave legitimacy to the occupation? "
However, because these are decisions Munther and many other Palestinians from Jerusalem now in a precarious position.
Fahm is entitled to permanent residence terminated - without his knowledge - over a long period spent in the United States, starting since 1975. when he went overseas to study. The U.S. passport is received after the country's married and raised families of their own.
1995th years after the signing of the Oslo agreement, he decided to return and live again in Jerusalem.
past 16 years Munther was forced to once every few months to get in and out of Israel to renew his tourist visa through which lives in Jerusalem.
However, 18 months ago, the Ministry of Internal Affairs informed him that it more in line with the new policy, it will automatically issue a tourist visa. They told him that he can now spend only 3 months of the year in Israel, including Jerusalem. In his petition Humanitarian Committee Munther said that Jerusalem must be nurtured to its 76-year-old mother.
"Is there any other country where the indigenous population in their home country behave this way?" Asks Munther.
policy of denial of travel visas Palestinians with foreign passports are inconsistently implemented, said Ms. Kerstein, due to the objections of American and European embassies.
However, it seems that Mr. Fahmi strange choice for the implementation of this policy, given his many influential friends, and supporters. A petition of support signed by more than 2000 people, including the British novelist Ian McEwan, the historian Eric Hobsbawm and author Simon Sebag Montefiorija. Fahmi hopes that the support that his struggle for the right to live in their city and also provide many Israelis and Jews outside Israel, including two best-known Israeli novelists Amos Oz and David Grossman, could not prevent his expulsion from Jerusalem. "I hope the authorities will find that many of the people who support me describe themselves as friends of Israel," he said.
Rashid Khalidi, a professor of Middle Eastern history at Columbia University in New York, who also signed the petition, argues that the case of Mr Fahmija points to Israel's determination to maintain a clear Jewish majority in Jerusalem. "Reports in the Israeli upujućuju media that the Israeli security service compiled a list of several hundred activists in Jerusalem where they want to issue orders of expulsion. "
formula thought up by a committee of the Israeli government 1973rd The desired ratio between the percentage of Israeli Jews and Palestinians in Jerusalem was set at 73 versus 27th However, despite an aggressive policy of settling Jews in East Jerusalem, due to the higher birthrate among Palestinians, the Palestinian population rises to more than a third of the total population of Jerusalem.
"I do not know any family in East Jerusalem, which has at least one member affected by this policy cancellation rights to residence, "said Professor Khalidi." This is a systematic policy. "
Israel last year expanded the application of this policy when he quashed the right of residence 4 Hamas members of the Palestinian Legislative Council (parliament) that lived in East Jerusalem. This year also Gheithu Adnan, a prominent Palestinian political activist who opposed the Jewish colonization in its fourth Silwan in East Jerusalem, forbidden to enter Jerusalem.
indication that Palestinians in East Jerusalem, fearing that it threatened their right to residence in this city is certainly the increase in requests for granting Palestinians Israeli citizenship over the past 5 years. Data from the Israeli Ministry of Interior for this year show that about 13 000 Palestinians of Jerusalem, or 5% of the population, now Israeli citizens.
Source: Jonathan Cook: Even Tony Blair can not save Palestinian Bookseller to the Stars
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