User:Padres Hana/Israeli tactics during the First Intifada

Most of the tactics used by the Israeli army to suppress the First Intifada (1988-1991) were first used in the early months of the occupation of the West Bank and Gaza Strip in 1967. The legal precedents cited were the British emergency regulations of 1945 imposed to combat Zionist underground activity. These allowed for the demolition of houses, imposition of censorship, making arrests, imposing police supervision, exile, expulsion and the creation of restricted areas. Another precedent cited was a Jordanian procedure, No. 119, which had been used against Palestinian dissent in the West Bank. This allowed a military commander to demolish houses from which shots were fired or in which occupants had contravened regulations or aided others. On 7th June 1967 the Israeli army issued two proclamations. The first imposed a curfew forbidding all movement. The second endowed Area Commanders with all legislative, executive and judicial powers. Also on 7th June the army issue Military Order 1 authorizing the punishment of anyone caught looting. Military Order 2, on the same day, declared that the West Bank was under quarantine and that no plant or animal may be removed. Military Orders came to be the main tool used in governing the West Bank and Gaza Strip.

Military Order 129, 29th September 1967, resulted in the military formally taking over all judicial functions.

Military Order 144, 22 October 1967, cancels an earlier admission that the IV Geneva Convention applies to the West Bank.

Military Order 160, 6 November 1967, invalidates all mandate legislation between 27 November 1947 and 15 May 1948 which doesn't appear in the Official Gazette.

Administrative Detention
On 30 October 1967, following raids on three refugee camps around Nablus, in which hooded informers are used, eighty people are given administrative detention orders.

Closed Military Areas
Military Order 146, 23 October 1967, declares Ramallah district a closed military area. Military Order 151, 1 November 1967, declares Jordan Valley a closed area for which permits are required to enter.

Military Order 182, 13 December 1967, declares Bethlehem closed areas during 24-25 December, 6-7 and 18-19 January 1968. Permits required to enter.

Closure of Educational Institutions
Military Order 107, 29 August 1967, bans 55 school books. It leads to a school strike, 1 September, with most schools being closed at the start of the new term.

Military Order 183, 4 December 1967, reverses the ban on school books.

Birzeit University was closed for four and a half years.

Collaborators
On 30 October 1967 the Israeli army raided three refugee camps around Nablus. Hooded informers sitting in cars, called "monkeys", were used to identify suspects. Eighty people given administrative detention orders. During Operation Ring, 13 February 1968, when several thousand males rounded up from the Nablus casbah were paraded in front of "monkeys" resulting in 74 people being detained.

Crowd Control
Military Order 101, 27 August 1967, bans all demonstrations. On 8 March 1969, during a widespread school strike, schoolgirls in the Gaza Strip are injured by live ammunition by Zahal soldiers trying to disperse them. Troops are given permission to enter schools to disperse demonstrators.

Deportation
At the beginning of August 1967 General Narkis expelled three leaders from Jerusalem and one from Ramallah. Anwar el-Khatib, Distric Commisioner, was sent to Safad. Dr Daoud el-Husseini, a member of the PLO, was sent to Hadera for three months. On 23 September 1967 Moshe Dayan signed an order expelling Sheikh Abdul Hamid Saeh, the chief Moslem judge, to the Est Ban, Jordan.

House Demolition
The first house demolition in the West Bank, apart from the destruction of three villages around Latrun and in the town Qalqilyah, occurred in the village of Anabta on Friday 16 June 1967. It was blown up on the personal orders of Lieutenant-Colonel Eliezer after shots were fired at soldiers under his command. . By August the tactic had become common. Defence Minister Moshe Dayan argued that it was effective as a deterrent against collaboration with terrorist organisations. The procedure required prior authorisation from the Operational Commander of the area, and later from Dayan himself.

On 20 August 1967, following an attack on a group of Israelis, four houses were blown up in Abu Dis; three other houses were destroyed in the explosions.

In Nablus the military governor, Lieutenant Colonel Ofer, personally supervised all demolitions. Several large houses in the wealthiest districts were blown up: on 11 September 1967 a three storey stone-built house belonging to Hamza Tokan was destroyed after the arrest of a student leader; on 17 September another large house was blown up following the discovery of weapons in the Casbah.

Demolitions from 11 June 1967 to 25 June 1969:

ID Cards
Military Order 234, 17 March 1968, requires all men over 16 years to apply for an ID card.

Interrogation
One of the first deaths in custody after June 1967 was reported by Ha'aretz on 26 March 1969: Qasim Abu Aqr of Beit Hanina died after repeated beatings. MK Uri Avneri raised the matter in the Knesset saying "This should warn us about certain interrogation practices."

Media
Military Order 110, 4 September 1967, requires a permit for importing or publishing any newspaper.

Military Order 139, 4 October 1967, gives the Military the right to search the mail.

Permits
Military Order 96, 15 August 1967, required that a permit be obtained for the transporting of any goods, including transportation by donkey.

Military Order 134, 29 September 1967, required permits be obtained for all tractors and other farm equipment.

Military Order 158, 19 November 1967, permit required for any water installation.

Military Order 174, 28 November 1967, requires all travel agents and tour guides to obtain a permit unless coming via Israel.

Strike Breaking
Friday 22nd September 1967, following a general strike in Nablus, twenty shops are ordered closed and 50 buses are taken off the road. Tucks are only allowed to leave Nablus if they have a transit permit.

Military Order 128, 27 September 1967 gives military commanders the power to close shops or dispose of stock if a shopkeeper refuses to sell his stock or provides services in an irrational manner.