62 Israeli Land Grab and Forced Population Transfer of Palestinians Seam Zones In 2003, the Military Commander proclaimed the “Seam Zone” a closed military zone that may be entered by permit only. Seam Zones are sections of Palestinian land within the occupied Palestinian territory isolated as a result of the erection of the Annexation Wall – falling between the Wall and the 1949 Armistice Line (the Green Line). As a result, Palestinian access to these isolated areas is severely restricted and subjected to an Israeli-controlled permit regime.213 Internationally, these people are defined as Internally Stuck Persons.214 Based on the Israeli Declaration Concerning the Closure of Area Number S/2/03 (Seam Zone) “no person will enter the Seam Zone and no one will remain there. A person found in the Seam Zone will be required to evacuate it immediately”.215 In June 2006, pursuant to the request of the Supreme Court, HaMoked filed an amended petition concerning the permit regime Israel had instituted in the Seam Zones.216 In January 2004, the Association for Civil Rights in Israel filed a similar petition217 and both petitions were consolidated for a single hearing. In its response to their petition in November 2006, the State of Israel claimed, inter alia, that the permit regime was a corollary of the proclamation of the Seam Zone as a closed zone and that the regime provides an adequate solution for movement into and out of the Seam Zone. On 5 April 2011, the Court dismissed the petitions and kept the permit regime intact.218 To obtain an access permit, Palestinians are required to meet at least one of the Civil Administration’s qualifying criteria. Permits are, in theory, to be granted to: 1. Those able to prove ownership of a residential property within the Seam Zone. 213 OCHA, Three Years Later: The Humanitarian Impact of the Barrier Since the International Court of Justice Opinion (Jerusalem, July 9, 2007); available from http://www.ochaopt.org/documents/ICJ4_ Special_Focus_July2007.pdf; accessed 23 April 2013. 214 PLO Negotiations Office, ‘Injustice Can Be Dismantled’ (July 7, 2011), 3; available from http://www.nadplo.org/userfiles/file/media%20brief/ICJ%20Anniversary%20-%20%E2%80%9CINJUSTICE%20 CAN%20BE%20DISMANTLED%E2%80%9D.pdf; accessed 23 April 2013. 215 OCHA, ‘UNSCO-OCHA Discussion Paper – “Seam Zone” Military Order’ (November 3, 2003), 1; available from http://www.ochaopt.org/documents/OCHA_UNSCO_MOSZ1103.pdf; accessed 23 April 2013. 216 See: Center for the Defence of the Individual V. Government of Israel Et Al. Supplemental Response on Behalf of the Respondents (HCJ 2009). 217 See: The Association for Civil Rights in Israel V. IDF Commander in the Judea and Samaria Area Et Al (n.d.). 218 Permit regime in the seam zone: Center for the Defence of the Individual V. Government of Israel Et Al. Supplemental Response on Behalf of the Respondents.