The case of the hunger-striking Palestinian political prisoner Samer Issawi has returned to the spotlight one of the most notorious human rights violations by an occupying power: deportation. Israel has offered Issawi deportation rather than outright release, despite not being able to charge him or try him for a specific crime or infraction.

The idea of deporting a person from his or her country runs contrary to the very essence of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, which stipulates the right of humans to leave their country and return without restrictions. For decades, Israel, which controls all the borders of Palestine, has been able to literally throw people across the hermetically sealed borders and prevent them from returning.

These deportations are based on the 112th clause of the mandate-era British Emergency Regulations (1945). The Israeli Knesset rescinded applying the regulations to Israel in 1979, but they remain intact for occupied Palestine, which is under Israeli military control.

According to the Israeli human rights group B'Tselem, 1,522 Palestinians were deported from the occupied territories between 1967 — the beginning of the Israeli occupation — and 1992. None of the deportees had been charged with a criminal offense or tried and convicted. By law, they must therefore be considered innocent of any offense.