Since President Trump’s assertion regarding Jerusalem, the West Bank and Gaza has been witnessing widespread protests. Trump's decision not only represents a flagrent disregard for international law, but also represents a departure from the formal American position that Jerusalem represents a 'final status' issue.
Trump's statement changes very little in regard to control of the city, though this represents the most dangerous aspect of his words. Implicit in his action is that international law does not apply to the powerful, and that a state can use force to bend the rules.
The Palestinian people, as well as solidarity groups around the world, have taken to the streets to demonstrate their mixture of frustration and hopelessness. In response, occupation forces have responded through the use of excessive force and wide-scale arrests. Since 7 December, there have been over 100 individuals detained. The figures are as follows:
- Around 35 – 40 detainees are from East Jerusalem, which have mostly been conditionally released;
- Around 25 detainees from Hebron, including a number of children;
- On 7 December 2017 22 were arrested from the village of Qussra, in Nablus district. These arrests came as a response to a peaceful protest organized by the village residents in response to the killing of a villager by a settler last week. The occupation forces have only released one prisoner thus far, and kept 21. Some have received extension for interrogation in al-Jalame and others are in Huwwara and Megiddo detention centers;
- Three of the detainees were women, two from East Jerusalem who are Jihad Abu Zenaid, a PLC member, and Aseel Abu al-Layel. Both were released later. The third woman is Asmaa’ Weridat, she was shot by Israeli soldiers close to Beit El checkpoint, Bitin, Ramallah. Asmaa’ was injured, arrested and later transferred to Hadassah Hospital for treatment. She is still being detained in the hospital.
East Jerusalem
In the past few days, East Jerusalem has been especially targeted. Occupation forces have installed several checkpoints and increased the number of their forces in the areas around Damascus Gate and Salah al-Deen Street. These measures have been coupled with violent responses to any form of protesting.A female participant of a protest on 9 December 2017 stated that:
There was a call to participate in a protest that starts in Salah al-Dein street and ends at Damascus Gate against the decision of transferring the American Embassy to Jerusalem. The protest was repressed from the beginning when the Israeli soldiers started throwing tear gas on us they also used horses to separate the protestors. When the soldiers came I was standing and holding a Palestinian flag in my hand, four soldiers came toward me and started attacking me and the other girls with me. I also saw the soldiers who attacked Aseel Abu al-Layel and took off her headscarf, they also attacked the PLC member Jihad Abu Zenaid.[1]
Unequal Before the Law
Rather than recognizing the status of these prisoners and detainees as “protected persons” under international humanitarian law, Israel registers Jerusalemites as security or criminal offenders. If a Jerusalemite is charged with an offense which was committed in Jerusalem or territories inside the Green Line, he/she will be tried before the Israeli civilian courts, according to the 1977 Penal Code, the 1948 Prevention of Terrorism Ordinance and the 1982 Criminal Procedures Law. However, military court jurisdiction can be extended to Palestinian residents of East Jerusalem if their alleged offense was committed in or otherwise has ties to the West Bank.
Palestinians, as an occupied people, are protected persons under Article 4 of the Fourth Geneva Convention. Over the past few days, Israeli forces have injured more than 800 Palestinian, detained more than 100 and unlawfully killed four Palestinians. Such behavior is not keeping with the obligations of an occupying power, and therefore a breach of international law.
As such, Addameer calls on the immediate release of all prisoners. In addition, we call on third state parties to pressure the Israeli occupation authorities to respect their obligations under international human rights law and international humanitarian law, and to hold them accountable for the violations they have committed.