Khalil Tafakji - Image; Al Jazeera

Citing “security reasons” — the ubiquitous and unanswerable catch-all phrase against which it is almost impossible to mount any defense — Israel’s Ministry of the Interior has just issued a six-month travel ban on map expert Khalil Tafakji. He heads the Arab Studies Society’s Mapping and GIS Department, which has relocated to Dahiet al-Bariid, just beside Israel’s wall, but with full access to Jerusalem.

Tafakji, like almost all other Palestinians in occupied East Jerusalem, is a “permanent resident,” but not a citizen of Israel. He was surprised at the development and said, “They [Israeli authorities] called me and said come to Moskobiyya [the Russian Compound security complex in West Jerusalem] — Room 4. They said ‘This is an order, sign it, you have 14 days to make an objection. It is forbidden for you to travel from today for six months.”

He called it “one of the ongoing Israeli violations against Palestinians in Jerusalem.”

He said  he often lectures in foreign countries about Israeli confiscation of lands the Palestinians claim for a future state.

Israel’s Shin Bet internal intelligence agency recommended the ban because Mr. Tufakji’s departure from Israel might harm state security.

The ban is in effect until August 2.

sources:

GIS  Development

International Middle East Media Centre

The Hindu

UN-Truth