By Palestine Chronicle Staff
Gisha, the Israeli Legal Center for Freedom of Movement, has published a new factsheet detailing Israel’s restrictions imposed on Palestinians from Gaza who want to travel. The factsheet revealed that hundreds of Palestinians were denied entry into Israel for ‘security reasons.’
Gisha has noted an increase in interrogations of passengers who travel through Israel, as well as cases of the Israeli authorities sending Palestinians back even after receiving the necessary permits to travel. According to the organization, “These practices violate human rights and run counter to Israel’s stated policy goals.”
GISHA: People "blocked for security reasons are not provided information about the nature of the block, often even during legal proceedings"
— Marian Houk (@Marianhouk) September 22, 2016
The organization added that Palestinians who were affected the most by these restrictions were merchants, patients, workers with international NGOs; Palestinians who have appointments are foreign consulates in Israel, and Palestinians travelling to visit their families in the West Bank. Gisha clarified that since Israel’s offensive on Gaza in 2014, there has been an increase in the number of Palestinians who were given permits to travel through Israel, yet they only made 3% of Palestinians who were allowed to travel in 2000.
.@Gisha_Access publishes stats on sharp increase in exit permit rejections for Gazans. We've reported on this before https://t.co/UuwCCgOzEy pic.twitter.com/hN0swEDlg6
— Kaamil Ahmed (@KaamilAhmed) September 22, 2016
Gisha revealed that in the last few months, Israel has withdrawing 1,500 permits out of 3,500-700 permits issued for business people in Gaza. Doctors for Human Rights said during the first half of the year, a 75% increase in the number of complaints made by cancer patients who were denied permits by Israel compared to last year.
A number of please were made by Ghisha and it resulted in granting some Palestinians permits, according to Gisha, which reflects the reasoning behind this denial. A number of patients have passed away while waiting for Israeli permits to be issued for treatment, Gisha concluded.
(PlestineChronicle.com)
