Hammour’s expulsion underscored the fragile prestige of Palestinians in Israeli-annexed east Jerusalem, where most have revocable residency rights but are not Israeli citizens. He also escalated a diplomatic row with France, which had asked Israel not to carry out the expulsion.
“I am pleased to announce that justice has been served today and that terrorist Salah Hammouri has been expelled from Israel,” Israeli Interior Minister Ayelet Shaked said in a video recorded Sunday. The deportation ended months of legal wrangling.
Hammouri, who was born in Jerusalem but has French citizenship, landed in Paris shortly before 10 a. m. local time. Dressed in a black tracksuit and a keffiyeh, or black and white Palestinian headscarf, around his neck, he waved through his wife and an organization of supporters.
Some hugged him and others applauded in support.
Speaking to reporters, Hammouri accused Israel of “ethnic cleansing” and said its expulsion was aimed at “showing generations that no one can resist Israel. “He promised to fight order.
“I will continue to exercise my right to this profession until I have the right to return to my country,” he said.
Israel says Hammouri is an activist with the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine, an organization it has called a terrorist organization. He worked as a lawyer for Adameer, a human rights organization that is helping Palestinian prisoners banned by Israel for their alleged ties to the PFLP.
He spent seven years in prison after being convicted of an alleged plot to kill a prominent rabbi, but was released in a 2011 criminal exchange with the militant group Hamas. He has not been charged or convicted in the most recent proceedings against him.
Israel, however, claimed it had continued its activities with the banned group, stripped it of its residency and last March placed it under administrative detention, a prestige Israel has for detaining suspected militants for months without charging them or bringing them to justice.
Shaked ordered deportation when his detainer expired. Israel’s Supreme Court rejected an appeal opposing the ruling to revoke Hammouri’s resident status. Their lawyers complained that the resolution was based on secret evidence they were not allowed to see.
The French Foreign Ministry condemned Israel’s expulsion of Hammouri after his landing in Paris and said it had “taken all measures, adding at the highest point of the state, to ensure that Mr. Salah Hammouri, who has all legal recourse and who can lead a general life in Jerusalem, is respected, where he was born, lives and wants to live.
It is not transparent what measures, if any, the French government can take.
The Israeli human rights organization HaMoked, which had defended Hammouri, condemned Sunday’s eviction. A hearing on the matter was scheduled for Jan. 1, and it was not without delay that it became apparent how Israel was able to move forward with the deportation.
“Expelling a Palestinian from theirs for breaking his allegiance to the State of Israel is a damaging precedent and a flagrant violation of human rights,” said the group’s director, Jessica Montell. “HaMoked will continue to fight this unconstitutional law. “
Last year, Hammouri was one of six human rights activists whose cellphones were discovered by independent security researchers that had been inflamed with spyware manufactured through Israel’s NSO Group.
It was not known who had placed the spyware on the phones. Israel said there was no link between Adameer’s terrorist designation and five other Palestinian rights teams and any alleged use of NSO spyware. Israel has publicly provided little evidence of the terrorism designation. , which Palestinian teams say is aimed at muzzling them and cutting off their funding resources.
Shaked, a member of a small nationalist party, was not re-elected to parliament in last month’s election.
Aryeh Deri, who is expected to take office in the new government, said Hammour’s ouster is “the end of a long but fair legal process” and praised Shaked for completing it.
The new government is still made up of Prime Minister-designate Benjamin Netanyahu. He will have to pass a special law to allow Deri to be a minister because of his recent conviction for tax crimes.
Israel captured East Jerusalem, home to the city’s most important devout sites, the 1967 Middle East War and annexed the region in a move that is not recognized worldwide. It sees the entire city as its capital, while the Palestinians claim East Jerusalem as the capital of a long-term state.
While the city’s Jews automatically have the right to citizenship, Palestinians are granted resident status. This allows them freedom of movement, the ability to work and access to Israeli social services, but they are not allowed to vote in national elections. Residency rights may not apply if a Palestinian is found to be living outside the city for an extended period of time or in certain security cases.
Palestinians can apply for citizenship. But few do, no less than to be noted that they accept what they see as an occupation. However, those who apply face a lengthy and bureaucratic process.
Haaretz reported this year that fewer than 20,000 Palestinians in Jerusalem, about five percent of the population, have Israeli citizenship and only 34 percent of the programs are approved. He cited Home Office data provided through Shaked to a parliamentary inquiry.
(PENNSYLVANIA)