Gazans barred from visiting jailed kin
JERUSALEM: Israel’s Supreme Court today upheld a government decision that bars Gaza Strip residents visiting relatives in Israeli jails, saying this is not a “basic humanitarian need.” Israel, which holds thousands of Palestinians in its prisons, has barred all travel from Gaza to Israel, except for humanitarian cases, since the Islamist group Hamas seized control of the coastal strip in June 2007.
In its ruling on a petition brought by a rights group, the court said it would not make an exception to this for prisoners’ families as the decision was made in accordance with Israel’s political and security needs.
“Allowing the entry of Gaza residents into Israel for this purpose is not included within the framework of the basic humanitarian needs of Gaza Strip residents that Israel is required to meet,” the court wrote.
The court also said it believed that the extra traffic of relatives passing through the Israel-Gaza border crossing posed a security threat “given that the crossings have been a repeated target for terror attacks.” Human rights groups criticised the decision, saying it was not only the rights of Gazans but also those of the prisoners themselves that were being violated.
“We argue that the rights to prison visits are a basic right under international law,” said Joel Greenberg, spokesman for the Israeli group Moked, which filed the petition.
Greenberg also said the ban amounted to collective punishment for Gaza residents.
“Because it is applied in a sweeping way and not on an individual basis it is a form of collective punishment,” he said.
Israel withdrew from the Gaza Strip in 2004 and since the Hamas takeover has regarded Gaza as a “hostile territory,” sealing it off to all but vital humanitarian supplies.
