JERUSALEM – August 4, 2008 – The Association for Civil Rights in Israel (ACRI) welcomes the State’s decision today granting 150 Fatah supporters refuge in the West Bank, following the organization’s petition against sending them back to the conflict-ridden Gaza Strip. Another 38 returned to Gaza on their own will, according to the Israel Defense Forces.
Yesterday, on August 3, ACRI submitted an urgent petition to the Supreme Court demanding that Israel not return the asylum-seekers to Gaza because their lives were in danger there. The asylum-seekers, including children and individuals who had been injured in the fighting, entered Israel following violent clashes between Hamas and Fatah in the West Bank.
According to ACRI’s petition, returning them would directly violate the United Nations Convention relating to the Status of Refugees to which Israel is a signatory – most specifically the notion of “non-refoulement,” which prevents states from sending asylum-seekers into life-endangering situations.
“We are pleased with the State’s decision to abide by its legal commitments to safeguard these individuals’ lives and freedom,” said ACRI Attorney Oded Feller, who submitted the petition. “But besides the legal ramifications, it would have been highly immoral for Israel to send them – or any other asylum-seekers – back to a place where they would most likely face injury and even death.”
On Saturday, August 2, 188 Fatah supporters from Gaza entered Israel and requested asylum in Israel as Hamas militia continued shooting at them and at Israeli soldiers from across the Nahal Oz Crossing. Though Israel initially agreed to transfer them to the West Bank, following intervention by the Palestinian Authority, Israel reneged on the decision.
ACRI and its partner NGOs made similar claims regarding non-refoulement in a petition submitted last year against the return of African asylum-seekers, many of whom fled genocide in Darfur, to Egypt. The organizations suspected that the Egyptian authorities were likely to return the asylum-seekers to their countries of origin, where their lives would be in danger.
