PALESTINIAN LEFT FEW PLACES TO GO AFTER AL QUDS BAN RENEWED

Al-Quds, 13 Rajab 1436/2 May 2015 (MINA) – A Palestinian activist has been left few places to go after the Israeli authorities on Thursday renewed a ban prohibiting him from entering Al Quds, having also banned him from entering the West Bank and travelling abroad.

Dawoud al-Ghoul, 32, was initially banned from his hometown of Jerusalem in November for six-months, and on Thursday the ban was renewed by an extra four months.

He was separately issued a six-month ban in December that prohibited him from entering the West Bank, and in April the Israeli Ministry of the Interior issued a six-month ban preventing him from travelling abroad, Maan News Agency quoted by Mi’raj Islamic News Agency (MINA) as reporting.

The bans came after Israeli intelligence identified al-Ghoul as “a danger to public security,” although by prohibiting him from leaving the country, it is unclear where they expect him to go.

The activist comes from the neighborhood of Silwan, south of the Old City in East Jerusalem.

Al-Ghoul told Ma’an that he had appealed to all parties but that his appeals had been rejected for “security” reasons.

He said that the bans had forced him to leave his job and to end his Master’s studies.

Al-Ghoul was among five Palestinians to be banned from Jerusalem last November, prompting Chief PLO negotiator Saeb Erekat to speak out.

Erekat said: “Israel’s policy of coercive deportation, which has affected five citizens, is illegal in the first place, and is nothing but a consolidation of Israel’s policy of ethnic cleansing against the Palestinians, especially in Jerusalem.” (T/P010/R03)

Mi’raj Islamic News Agency (MINA)