Israel passes law allowing it to deport families of Palestinian attack suspects
Israel passes law allowing it to deport families of Palestinian attack suspects
The Knesset has passed a bill that will allow for the deportation of families of Palestinian attack suspects from their homes.
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Israeli soldiers will now be able to expel Palestinians in the West Bank [Getty]
The Israeli parliament on Wednesday passed a bill that would facilitate the deportation of Palestinians assailants’ families from their homes to other parts of the occupied West Bank.
The bill passed in the Knesset on Wednesday. It won after 69 Knesset members voted for the bill while 38 Knesset members objected.
The bill will allow the Israeli army’s Central Command chief to expel the families of suspects who "perpetrate or try to perpetrate" an attack against Israeli settlers in the West Bank.
Israel has occupied the West Bank since 1967. More than 600,000 Israeli Jews live in settlements in the occupied West Bank and East Jerusalem deemed illegal under international law.
But the Israeli Security Agency, also known as the Shin Bet said the bill is unrealistic.
The agency’s director Nadav Argaman said the bill "cannot be implemented". "We are unable to go into Hebron and Nablus every day and see who lives where and whether the family has returned to their residence", he was quoted as saying by senior Israeli officials.
All Israeli settlements across the occupied West Bank are classed as illegal under international law, particularly article 49 of the Fourth Geneva Convention, which asserts that "the occupying power shall not deport or transfer parts of its own civilian population into the territory it occupies".
Israeli forces and settlers routinely and sometimes fatally attack Palestinians in the occupied territories, demolishing their homes, poisoning their livestock and vandalising their properties.
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