Ramallah: The Palestinian president warned yesterday that Israel's plan to expel four Hamas politicians from occupied Jerusalem could pose a new obstacle to peace.
It would also set a dangerous precedent for expelling Arabs from the disputed city based on their political views.
The expulsions of the three Palestinian lawmakers and a former Cabinet minister could start as early as today.
Israel said it revoked the occupied Jerusalem residency rights of the four in 2006 and arrested them because they belonged to Hamas, the fighter group that controlled the Gaza Strip and had carried out scores of attacks against Israelis.
The expulsion orders were delayed because the men had been in prison until recently.
Rights stripped
Israel has stripped some 13,000 Palestinians of their residency rights in occupied Jerusalem since capturing and annexing the area in the 1967 Mideast War, according to government statistics obtained by the Israeli human rights group HaMoked.
However, in those cases, Israel cited administrative reasons such staying away from the city for too long.
Political affiliation
Human rights activists said revoking the occupied Jerusalem IDs of the Hamas politicians marked the first time Israel had acted against Arab residents of occupied Jerusalem because of their political affiliation.
"This is a very dangerous precedent," Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas said. "We won't accept it. We won't allow it. We won't just overlook it. ... We declare herewith that the obstacles the Israeli government is creating are the biggest obstacles yet on the path to peace."
Most of the 250,000 Palestinians in occupied Jerusalem carry Israeli-issued IDs that grant residency rights, rather than Israeli citizenship.
Most Palestinians in occupied Jerusalem rejected Israel's citizenship offer after the 1967 war, fearing it would be tantamount to giving up Palestinian claims to the city. The Palestinians want to set up a capital in occupied Jerusalem — the location of holy Muslim sites.
If Israel went ahead with the expulsions, the act would likely trigger further conflict over occupied Jer-usalem and hinder US efforts for Israeli and Palestinian peace negotiations.
