When the Palestinian Supreme Court in Ramallah issued a new ruling on 22.10.2010, commentators were quick to declare a breakthrough for the 35,000 Palestinian residents who live in the West Bank but whose registered addresses are in Gaza and who therefore live under the threat of deportation. The ruling ordered the Palestinian Interior Ministry to carry out all the necessary procedures to change these residents’ addresses from the Gaza Strip to the West Bank.
According to the Maan news agency, the ruling “will allow thousands of Palestinians to move freely within the West Bank”. It seems, that Maan (along with one of the members of the Turkel Commission to Examine the Maritime Incident), believed that the Palestinian Authority, rather than Israel, controls the Palestinian population registry and is therefore authorized to change addresses and inform Israel thereof.
The Palestinian Interior Ministry, which issues identity cards after receiving Israeli permission, has long stopped giving the Israeli army notice of address changes from Gaza to the West Bank. This is due to the fact that since 2000, Israel has refused to register changes in address of Palestinians who moved from Gaza to the West Bank. Equipped with new military orders, Israeli soldiers even arrest and deport such residents, meaning many of them restrict their movement within the West Bank out of fear they will be arrested at a checkpoint and deported to Gaza.
Full Article
http://www.gazagateway.org/2010/11/who-controls-the-palestinian-population-registry/
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