The Case of Omar Barghouti,

Human rights defender, founding member of the BDS movement:

The Palestinian Boycott, Divestment • Banned de facto from travel by Israeli authorities and Sanctions National Committee (BNC) is a wide coalition of the largest • At risk of having his Israeli permanent residency permit revoked Palestinian mass organizations, trade • unions, networks and organizations. Exposed to threats of Israeli officials against his life and personal safety BNC member organizations:

- Council of National and Islamic BDS is a global movement of human rights defenders led by the Palestinian Forces in Palestine BDS National Committee (BNC), the broadest coalition in Palestinian civil - Gen. Union of Palestinian Workers society. It advocates for non-violent, global campaigns of Boycott, Divestment - Palestinian General Federation of and Sanctions (BDS) against Israel, similar to those imposed on apartheid Trade Unions South Africa, until it respects international law and the human rights of the - Palestinian Trade Union Coalition for BDS (PTUC-BDS) Palestinian people as affirmed by the United Nations, including the rights to - Palestinian NGO Network (PNGO) self-determination, non-discrimination and return of the refugees. - Palestinian Nat’l Institute for NGOs - Federation of Indep. Trade Unions The BDS movement was launched on the first anniversary of the ICJ advisory - Global Palestine Right of Return opinion on Israel’s illegal Wall in occupied Palestinian territory with a call for Coalition BDS issued on 9 July 2005 by more than 170 Palestinian unions, grassroots - Occupied Palestine and Syrian Golan Heights Initiative associations, NGOs, and networks representing Palestinian communities in - Gen. Union of Palestinian Teachers the occupied West Bank, including East Jerusalem, and Gaza Strip (OPT), - Palestinian Federation of Unions of inside Israel and in exile. University Professors and Employees (PFUUPE) 1. Omar is a Palestinian whose family originates from the Ramallah area in - Gen. Union of Palestinian Women - Gen. Union of Palestinian Writers the Israel-occupied West Bank. He was born in Qatar and carries - Union of Palestinian Farmers Jordanian citizenship. For the past 22 years, Omar has been married to a - Grassroots Palestinian Anti-Apartheid Palestinian citizen of Israel and lived in Acre with his wife and daughters. Wall Campaign (STW) - Pal. Campaign for the Academic and Cultural Boycott of Israel (PACBI) 2. Based on his marriage with a Palestinian citizen of Israel, Omar holds a - Popular Struggle Coordination permanent residency permit in Israel since 1994. As a permanent Committee (PSCC) resident of Israel, he requires Israeli permission (a special travel - Civic Coalition for the Defense of Palestinian Rights in Jerusalem document/laissez passer) in order to travel and return to the country. This - Coalition for Jerusalem travel document is valid for a limited period and has to be renewed (on - Nat’l Committee to Commemorate the average every two years). Until recently, Omar was able to get his travel Nakba - Union of Public Employees in document renewed without a problem. Palestine-Civil Sector - Gen. Union of Palestinian Peasants 3. On 19 April, Omar and his lawyer were informed (in person) at the - Union of Pal. Charitable Organizations Ministry of Interior office in Acre that the Ministry rejects the request to - Union of Professional Associations renew his travel document (and with it his re-entry permit), although he - Women Campaign to Boycott Israeli had not yet submitted a formal request for renewal at the time. Products - Palestinian Economic Monitor - Union of Youth Activity Centers- 4. By refusing to renew his travel document, Israel has imposed a de facto Palestine Refugee Camps travel ban on him. Moreover, Israeli officials have informed media (AFP, - Agricultural Cooperatives Union - Nat’l Committee for Grassroots AP and other media sources) that this is the first step towards revoking Resistance Omar’s permanent residency status in Israel and that the Attorney General is looking into this revocation.1 www.bdsmovement.net [email protected] Human Rights Watch has condemned this travel ban stating:

Israel’s refusal to renew Barghouti’s travel document appears to be an effort to punish him for exercising his right to engage in peaceful, political activism, using its arsenal of bureaucratic control over Palestinian lives.2

5. This effective travel ban came in the wake of – and fulfills part of - the threats made against Omar and other human rights defenders by four Israeli ministers during an Israeli anti-BDS conference organized in Jerusalem on 28 March 2016. The most serious threat was of using "targeted civil elimination" against BDS "leaders," which may apply to leading BDS activists in Europe and the US as well.

Amnesty International has called on Israel to cease attacks on human rights defenders, stating, among other, that:

Amnesty International is concerned for the safety and liberty of Palestinian human rights defender Omar Barghouti, and other Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) activists, following calls alluding to threats, including of physical harm and deprivation of basic rights, made by Israeli ministers at an anti-Boycott Divestment and Sanction conference in Jerusalem on 28 March 2016. Omar Barghouti is a founding member and a prominent spokesperson of the BDS movement. He campaigns to hold Israel accountable for human rights and other international law violations and advocates for the use of non-violent means in doing so. He was personally attacked in comments and statements by conference participants including ministers, including by describing him as a threat who should be stopped.3

Tools and methods considered by Israeli authorities for possible residency revocation

6. At the time, the Israeli Minister of Interior Aryeh Deri revealed that he was considering revoking Omar’s permanent residency permit based on two claims:

a. That the Minister had "evidence" that Omar’s "center of life" is not in Israel, i.e. in accordance with the longstanding Israeli policy of revoking residency permits of Palestinians in their country based on “lack of proof of center of life” in Israel, a policy which has consistently been condemned as arbitrary and in violation of IHL and IHRL by all UN human rights mechanisms; and/or, b. On the grounds that Omar uses his travel document to travel internationally and advocate for the boycott of Israel: the Israeli government considers this to be problematic and a threat for Israel. The consideration to revoke Omar’s residency permit on these grounds appears to be related to the new Israeli policy whereby the Interior Minister uses his powers of discretion to revoke residency permits on the grounds of “a breach of allegiance to the State of Israel.” A petition to the Israeli Supreme Court against this policy has been pending since 2006, and Palestinian and Israeli human rights organizations are extremely concerned about the increasing use of this policy, in particular but not only against Palestinians in occupied East Jerusalem.4

In an official statement given to AFP, a spokeswoman for the Israeli Ministry of Interior said: “The minister wants to consider his status. He lives in Ramallah most of the time and part of what determines one’s permanent residency is where the center of life is. His BDS activities are also part of this.”5

7. This Israeli travel ban, the consideration of revoking Omar’s permanent residency and the threats against his life and safety pronounced by Israeli officials come in the middle of a repressive campaign of de-legitimization and intimidation waged by Israel and its pressure groups around the world against Palestinian, Israeli and international human rights defenders who are advocating and nonviolently campaigning for Palestinian human rights through BDS (see BNC Briefing/Attacks against the BDS movement).

8. The Palestinian BDS National Committee, a large coalition of unions, NGOs, grassroots organizations and their networks that guides global BDS campaigning, reiterates the calls of the Palestinian Human Rights Organizations Council (PHROC), Amnesty International, FIDH and numerous other civil society organizations for the protection of the safety and rights of Omar Barghouti and other human rights defenders of the BDS movement.

We appeal in particular to the High Commissioner for Human Rights, UN special experts and rapporteurs to:

1) Intervene with the responsible Israeli authorities as needed to ensure that Omar Barghouti’s permanent resident status in Israel will not be revoked, his travel permit will be renewed and his personal safety and integrity will be guaranteed; 2) Issue public statements strongly condemning all intimidation and unlawful restrictions on Omar Barghouti and other BDS campaigners and affirming that the right of individuals, groups and associations to advocate for and carry out non-violent boycotts is a right protected under the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights and the Declaration on Human Rights Defenders; 3) Encourage the office of the OHCHR and the EU delegation in the Occupied Palestinian Territory to extend protection under human rights defender mechanisms to Omar Barghouti and other human rights defenders of the BDS movement.

1 See, for example, Josef Federman, “A leader of the international boycott movement against Israel is accusing Israeli authorities of imposing a travel ban on him”, AP, 10 May 2016: http://www.usnews.com/news/world/articles/2016-05-10/boycott-leader-accuses- israel-of-imposing-travel-ban 2 Ali Abu Nimah, “Israel imposes travel ban on BDS co-founder Omar Barghouti”, Electronic Intifada,10 May 2016: https://electronicintifada.net/blogs/ali-abunimah/israel-imposes-travel-ban-bds-co-founder-omar-barghouti 3 Amnesty International, 12 April 2016, “Israeli Government must cease intimidation of human rights defenders, protect them from attacks”, at: https://www.amnesty.org/en/documents/mde15/3824/2016/en/ 4 See for example: JLAC, “Punitive Residency Revocation: the most recent tool of forcible transfer”: http://www.jlac.ps/index.php?page=inside&pid=415&parentId=0§ionid=8 5 AFP, 10 May 2016, at: http://www.timesofisrael.com/israel-boycott-campaigner-prevented-from-travel/