Press TV - The Israeli parliament has passed a law that enables the minister of interior to revoke the permanent residency statusof any Palestinian in Jerusalem al-Quds on grounds of "breach of loyalty" to the Tel Aviv regime.
Thelaw, passed by the Knesset on Wednesday, is also applicable to those whose statuses were obtained based on false information, and in cases in which "an individual committed a criminal act."
In accordance to the law, Israel's Interior Minister Aryeh Derinow has the power to revoke the residency documents of any Palestinian whom he chooses to see as a threat.
A senior member of the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) slammed the law as"extremely racist piece of legislation."
"By unethically stripping the residency of Palestinians from Jerusalem al-Quds and depriving the rights of those Palestinians to remain in their own city, the Israeli regime is acting in defiance of international law and is violating international human rights and humanitarian laws," Hanan Ashrawi said.
The Palestinian rights group Adalahstressed that the law is illegal under international humanitarian law.
"East Jerusalem is considered occupied territory under international humanitarian law (IHL) - like all other areas of the West Bank and the Gaza Strip - and its Palestinian residents are a protected civilian population. It is therefore illegal under IHL to impose upon them an obligation of loyalty to the occupying power, let alone to deny them the permanent residency status on this basis," the group said in a statement.
In the past, Human Rights Watchhas stressed that such residency revocations, which force Palestinians out of Jerusalem, "could amount to war crimes" in the eyes of theInternational Criminal Court(ICC).
The law will most likely apply to East Jerusalem al-Quds residents who have protested against the Israeli occupation and its manner of treatment of Palestinians.
The occupied Palestinian territories have witnessed a new wave of tension ever since US President Donald Trump announced his decisionon December 6 last year to recognize Jerusalem al-Quds as Israels capital and relocate the US embassy in Israel from Tel Aviv to the occupied city.
The dramatic shift in Washingtons policy vis--vis the city triggered demonstrations in the occupied territories, Iran, Turkey, Egypt, Jordan, Tunisia, Algeria, Iraq, Moroccoand other Muslim countries.
