www.haaretdaily.com - 2 maggio 2003

The Supreme Court yesterday upheld a decision by the Interior Ministry barring a group of 48 French pro-Palestinian activists from entering Israel, rejecting a decision by Jerusalem District Court Judge Moshe Drori to allow the French group to enter the country.

Justices Eliyahu Mazza, Dalia Dorner and Asher Grunis refrained from issuing deportation orders, however, since 37 members of the group are planning to fly back to France today. The court ordered the remaining 11 French activists to report for questioning by the Interior Ministry. Under pressure from the justices, the attorney representing the French group, Leah Tzemel, agreed that the 11 members who wish to remain in Israel will return to France if the ministry decides that they pose a threat to public safety.

Already at the outset of the hearing yesterday, the justices expressed their view that Judge Drori had erred in overruling the Interior Ministry officials, who are fully authorized to question foreign citizens arriving in Israel and to prevent their entry.

Attorney Tzemel cited Judge Drori's opinion that the ministry's authority is not unlimited. But the justices argued that if a similar group of activists would arrive in Canada seeking to influence that state's relations with Quebec, the group would immediately be turned away at the border and that other countries would also act in a similar way.

Tzemel asked the court to refrain from ruling on the matter since most members of the group would be leaving Israel on their own volition. But the justices noted that another group of activists could arrive tomorrow "and if it is decided to deport them, they would turn to Judge Drori."

The French activists arrived last week as guests of MK Issam Makhoul (Hadash) from Nazareth. An Interior Ministry official decided to bar their entry to the country because they were coming to express solidarity with the Palestinians and posed a threat to public order. Judge Drori then agreed to a request by Tzemel to delay their deportation, but he ordered the group to remain in their hotel in Nazareth. During a hearing the next day, the judge lifted the ministry's deportation order. The only restriction the judge made was to bar the group from entering the West Bank without permission from the Israel Defense Forces. The State Prosecutor's Office then appealed this ruling, effectively preventing the group from leaving Nazareth.

Prosecuting attorney Yuval Roitman argued in the appeal that only Israeli citizens have an inherent right to enter the gates of the country and that the Interior Ministry has wide authority to decide whether to issue an entry visa. This is the case in all democratic countries, he argued, and derives from the principle of national sovereignty.

Interior Minister Eli Yishai welcomed the Supreme Court decision yesterday. The ministry said yesterday that the group of French activists would not be immediately deported but would be given the opportunity to leave the country on their own today. Yishai said that the group of pro-Palestinian activists had planned to travel to the territories and provide support for terrorist organizations.

Since the IDF's Defensive Shield operation in April, the Interior Ministry has issued about 300 orders barring the entry of left-wing activists and 150 deportation orders against leftist activists who had managed to enter the territories.

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