Hamas: Expulsions continue under Mitchell cover

Ma'an - Hamas spokesman Fawzi Barhoum called the deportation of a Hamas lawmaker from Jerusalem, then a Gaza-born man and his brother from their Beersheba home an "escalation...carried out under the cover of negotiations."

In a statement released hours after the second and third deportations in two days, Barhoum expressed concern saying "Lawmakers and residents are expelled in a continuing attempt to tamper with Palestinian demographics in areas under Israeli control," and accused the United States of ignoring the crimes in order to pursue its own program of peace talks without taking into account real rights violations of Palestinians.

Barhoum said he considered the deportation of Hamas member of the Palestinian Legislative Council Mohamad Abu Tier from his Jerusalem home on Thursday a "racist and dangerous tactic [designed] to expand full [Israeli] control over Jerusalem," and saying that the move came "within Israel's demographic war on Palestinians."

The official warned that the current Arab attitude over the expulsions combined with the apparent American insistence on overlooking the issue "will lead to the expulsion of more and more Palestinians from their homeland."

Reports of deportations have increased since 13 April when two new Israeli military orders were put in place, expanding the definition of an "infiltrator" to include any Palestinian residing in areas under Israeli control without unspecified permissions from officials. The orders, 1649 and 1650, have been called sweeping and vague by human rights experts, and may be behind many of the recent removal of Palestinians from Israel, as well as the expulsion of a released prisoner whose family lives in the West Bank city of Tulkarem.

Palestinians have been deported to the Gaza Strip, and some allegedly to Jordan. It remains unclear which expulsions were carried out under the military orders.

In the case of Abu Tier, Israeli officials said he lost his residency rights for Jerusalem after participating in the Palestinian general elections in January 2006.