On 5 August 2007, B’Tselem – The Israeli Information Center for Human Rights in the Occupied Territories on behalf of the Euro-Mediterranean Human Rights Network (EMHRN) applied to the Israeli Coordinator of Government Activities in the Occupied Territories (COGAT), requesting permits for four human rights defenders from the Gaza Strip to enter Israel. The applications, which were denied, were filed to enable the four human rights defenders to attend meetings of the EMHRN’s Working Group on Palestine/Israel and the Palestinians (WG), which took place in Jerusalem on 26 and 27 August 2007. The EMHRN WG is a unique group comprised of Palestinian, Israeli and European human rights organizations and individual lawyers.
The four applicants were Mr. Issam Younis, General Director and Mr. Mahmoud Abu Rahma of the Al Mezan Center for Human Rights; and Mr. Raji Sourani, Director and Mr. Hamdi Shaqqura of the Palestinian Center for Human Rights-Gaza.
The denial of permits to the four human rights defenders illustrates the broader and graver problem of the total closure of the Gaza Strip since June 2007. The human rights defenders are four of 1.5 million people who are imprisoned in Gaza and cannot leave the 360km2 strip of land. The policy of total closure is a form of collective punishment imposed by Israel on 1.5 million Palestinians because of a political situation that is not within their control.
In June 2007, COGAT published new procedures regarding the issuance of permits for Gaza residents to enter Israel. According to these regulations, applications must be submitted fourteen business days in advance of the intended date of travel, and the army and the General Security Services (GSS) must give their response at least five business days prior to the date of travel. The new procedure was put in place following a Supreme Court order issued in H.C. 4212/06, Avocats Sans Frontières vs. Major-General of the Southern Command.
Although the above applicants repeatedly contacted COGAT, they did not receive a response five business days prior to the date of travel. Rather on Friday afternoon 24 August 2007, B’Tselem was informed by telephone that the applications had been denied, three on the grounds of security, without identifying these individuals. No written response with any explanation was provided.
The applicants later learned that none of them met the new requirements (criteria) for obtaining a permit, according to which: the applicant should be a V.I.P, a businessman or an individual applying for a permit on humanitarian grounds. However, these criteria, too, were not provided in writing and have not been published. None of the applications was dealt with according to the aforementioned procedures set forth by the army itself. Moreover, because the applicants received very late notice of the denials there was no time to challenge them.
The four above mentioned human rights defenders, like human rights defenders the world over, work to protect and promote universally recognized human rights and fundamental freedoms. They act as the eyes and ears of society, seek remedies for victims of human rights violations, and combat cultures of impunity which serve to cloak systematic and repeated breaches of human rights. Therefore they must be supported and must be allowed to proceed with their work including meeting with their Palestinian, Israeli and European colleagues in Jerusalem and elsewhere.
The EMHRN and its member organizations in Israel, the Occupied Palestinian Territory and Europe call upon:
