Israel Promises to Loosen Restrictions for Ramadan

Israel Promises to Loosen Restrictions for Ramadan
While Tightening the Closure Imposed on the Occupied Territories Restricting Palestinians? freedom of Religion during the
Muslim and Christian Holy Months

Last week Israel announced to the world that as a ?good will gesture? during Ramadan the closure imposed on the Occupied Territories would be relaxed and that worshipers of all ages would be allowed to pray at al-Aqsa Mosque. However, on 30 December 2000, the Israeli military authorities also decided that the preexisting closure of the Occupied Territories would be tightened banning all Muslims from the West Bank and Gaza from praying at al-Aqsa Mosque.

Yesterday marked the first Friday of Ramadan. Traditionally, to mark this occasion over 250,000 Muslims pray at the al-Aqsa Mosque. The denial of access to Muslims living in the West Bank and Gaza Strip to the Mosque cut the number of worshipers at the Mosque to only 25,000. The closure of the West Bank was tightened with extra checkpoints set up to ensure that residents of the Occupied Territories did not reach Jerusalem. Some individuals tried to reach Jerusalem to pray but were turned back and several were beaten and detained.

Yesterday also marked the official start of the Christian Advent season. Generally, Christians from all over the world come to Bethlehem to celebrate Christmas but events have been cancelled this year due to the violence. Palestinian Christians living inside Israel are denied access to pray at the Church of the Nativity in Bethlehem and Christians living in the West Bank and Gaza are not permitted to enter Jerusalem to pray at the Church of the Holy Sepulcher.

The actions of the Israeli Authorities are a clear violation of Article 27 of the Fourth Geneva Convention, which states that an occupying power must provide for the protection of the religious convictions and practices of the occupied party. It is also a violation of Article 46 of the Hague Convention of 1907. The closure of the last two months may have been a response to the actions of individual Palestinians or settlers. The effect of these measures, however, is to collectively punish the entire Palestinian population. Such collective punishments are illegal under international law. The total and indefinite closure of the Occupied Territories that has now been imposed poses an acute threat to Palestinian community life and particularly to freedom to Religion.

Al-Haq calls upon the international community to demand that Palestinians? right to religious freedom be respected. Al-Haq also reiterates its call to all High Contracting Parties to the Fourth Geneva Convention to signal to the Israeli Authorities that they will not tolerate grave breaches of the Convention. Al-Haq urges the international community to pressure Israel to abide by the numerous international instruments that it has willingly ratified. In light of ongoing violence, and the continuing failure of the Israeli Forces to ensure the safety of the Palestinians, al-Haq again calls upon the High Contracting Parties to the Fourth Geneva Convention to provide and/or guarantee protection for Palestinians living under Israeli Occupation.

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AL-HAQ, an NGO in consultative status with the Economic and Social Council of the United Nations and the West Bank affiliate of the International Commission of Jurists-Geneva, was established in 1979 by a group of Palestinian lawyers in order to uphold the rule of law and defend Palestinian human rights in the Occupied Palestinian Territory. AL-HAQ, P.O. Box 1413, Ramallah, Palestine. Tel: +972 2 295 4646, Fax: +972 2 295 4903, E-mail haq@alhaq.org, http://www.alhaq.org Website:

arch/ive/ief (2000 - 2005)