Concern raised over East Jerusalem deportation
Switzerland has expressed its concern over the decision by the Israeli government to deport a Palestinian parliamentarian from East Jerusalem to Ramallah.
This is a violation of the Geneva Convention, the Swiss foreign ministry announced in a statement on Thursday.
It pointed out that East Jerusalem is part of occupied Palestinian Territory and that Article 49 of the fourth Geneva Convention prohibits Israel, as the occupying power, from making forced transfers or deportations.
The Israeli government decided to deport Ahmed Attoun, a member of the Palestinian Legislative Council, on December 6. Faced with expulsion threats, he had taken refuge with two colleagues in the office of the Swiss-run International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) in Jerusalem.
He lived there from July 2010 until his arrest on September 26, 2011. The other two parliamentarians are still on the ICRC premises.
Switzerland has called on the Israeli authorities to comply with international law by cancelling this deportation order as well as those imposed on other Palestinian residents of East Jerusalem.
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