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2.
Palestine after 1948
Since
1948, Palestine has been under Jordanian, Egyptian, and Israeli rule.
Palestinians whose land was occupied by Israel in
1948 were burdened with emergency orders: the laws on administrative
detention of citizens and their deportation was not implemented.
The West Bank fell
under Jordanian rule during the early 1950s. After the declaration of the
Hashemite Kingdom (East Bank and West Bank), Palestinians were detained
under Articles 2 and 9 of the law of 1939 which reads:
“By an order issued for
that purpose, the Prime Minister can
order the detention of a person. He may also order his continued
detention, or his release under conditions relating to his daily movements
and regulating regular reporting with the police regularly or any other
conditions”.
The Gaza Strip fell
under Egyptian rule during the regime of King Farouk, which continued to
use the British laws of 1945.
After the Israeli
occupation of the West Bank and Gaza Strip in 1967, the military
authorities issued military order # 378 in April 1970, entitled “Order
concerning security regulations” which was based on the 1945 Emergency
Regulations (which in turn were originally based on the Jordanian General
Defense Rules of 1939). This military order was anulled by decree #2 of
1995 issued by the President of the PA and so the emergency rules remained
in use.
Article 111 of the
Emergency Regulations provides:
“1.
Any military commander may issue a warrant of arrest and detention for any
person named in it, for a maximum period of one year and relating to any
place of detention mentioned therein.
2. If an order is issued against a person who has already been the subject
of a previous order issued under articles 109 or 110, the later order
issued under this article replaces the earlier one.”
When exploring the
subject of political arrests made by the Palestinian Authority, questions
need to be raised regarding the content of the emergency rule and its
legitimacy; whether the current Palestinian situation constitutes a state
of emergency; or whether it requires a state of emergency that requires
this form of detention.
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