A/HRC/13/54 OHCHR-OPT indicates that this policy has been implemented by the Ministry of Interior of Israel since December 1995.47 However, in 2008, the last year for which data is available, Israel revoked the residency permits of 4,577 East Jerusalemites. This is reported to be 21 times the average of each of the previous 40 years.48 38. Palestinians with West Bank or Gaza identity papers must apply for a permit to enter East Jerusalem. Even for those who are regularly employed in East Jerusalem, entry permits must be renewed every three or six months. West Bank identity-paper holders who are granted permits to enter Jerusalem are generally subject to a number of conditions, such as a time limit on the hours they can spend in Jerusalem and/or bans on driving or staying overnight. Restrictions on travel are often imposed, often during Israeli holidays, thereby preventing even permit holders from entering East Jerusalem. The extremely restrictive permit system impedes the freedom of movement of Palestinians between East Jerusalem, West Bank and Gaza.49 39. In addition, persons with East Jerusalem identification whose spouses hold West Bank identification (or are not Palestinian) are required to either surrender their residency and live in the West Bank, or apply for a family unification permit for the non-resident spouse.50 The challenges of family unification are illustrated by the following case documented by OHCHR-OPT. “S.”, living in the Silwan area of East Jerusalem and a holder of West Bank papers, married a Palestinian woman with East Jerusalem residency. While he had managed to obtain a permit to stay in East Jerusalem since his marriage, his permit was revoked after his house was demolished in December 2008. Since then Israeli authorities have refused to renew his permit, citing unspecified “security reasons”. In 2009, upon the expiration of his permit, he was arrested and detained for over three weeks. While now released, he remains without a permit and “illegally” in East Jerusalem with his wife, living in fear of being arrested again. Israeli authorities have also refused to issue a “certificate of good conduct” (no criminal record) for his wife, making it difficult for her to find employment. A. Home demolitions 40. Israel’s obligations under international humanitarian law prohibit it from destroying private or public property, or from forcibly displacing the civilian population, except as required for reasons of military necessity.51 The Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination has expressed serious concerns regarding house evictions and home 47 48 49 50 51 GE.10-12152 This policy has its roots in the judgement in the Mubarak Awad case of the High Court of Justice delivered in 1988, which decided that the status of Palestinian residents should be regulated in accordance with the Entry in Israel Law, which is immigration legislation. See, for example, Hamoked and B’Tselem, “The quiet deportation”, April 1997, and “The quiet deportation continues”, September 1998, p. 7, and Mubarak Awad v. Yitzhak Shamir, et al., HCJ 282/88. Nir Hasson, “Israel stripped thousands of Jerusalem Arabs of residency in 2008”, Haaretz.com, last update 2 December 2009. Available from www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/1132170.html. Information confirmed by OHCHR-OPT during meeting with Hamoked. Such concerns were also raised by the Human Rights Committee in its concluding observations for Israel (CCPR/C/79/Add.93), para. 22. See Jerusalem Centre for Social and Economic Rights, “Residency Rights”, 23 April 2009. Available from www.jcser.org/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=12&Itemid=15. Articles 49 and 53 of the Fourth Geneva Convention of 1949. 11