documents stating that they were leaving voluntarily. A former Israeli soldier recalled, “[w]hen someone refused to give me his hand [for finger-printing] they came and beat him badly [...] Then I was forcibly taking his thumb, and immersing it in ink and finger-printing him […] I have no doubt that tens of thousands of men were removed against their will.”64 By the time the 1967 War came to an end, Israel had occupied the West Bank, including East Jerusalem, and the Gaza Strip (as well as the Syrian Golan Heights and the Egyptian Sinai Peninsula). More than one-third (400,000 to 450,000) of the Palestinian population of that area were displaced during the war. Half of them (193,500) were refugees since 1948, thus displaced for a second time, while 240,000 were displaced from the West Bank and Gaza Strip for the first time.65 Almost 95 percent of these displaced persons fled to Jordan, while some found refuge in Syria and Egypt. Israel expropriated 849 km2 of Palestinian land, including more than 400 km2 owned by Palestinians who had been displaced from the West Bank and Gaza Strip during the war. Occupation, Apartheid, Colonization (1967-2014) Since 1967, Israel has extended its colonial apartheid regime to the occupied Palestinian territory by way of belligerent occupation and therefore Israel effectively controlled the entire territory of Mandate Palestine. Modeled on its military rule of 1949-1966, a second Israeli military rule was established in the 1967 occupied Palestinian territory in order to control and oppress the Palestinian population. With more than 1,200 military orders issued since 1967, Israel as the occupying power has altered the administrative and legal situation in the occupied Palestinian territory in violation of international humanitarian law. East Jerusalem, which was an integral part of the West Bank, was annexed by Israel immediately after the 1967 war in violation of international law.66 64 Quoted in: Masalha, Nur, The Politics of Denial, Israel and the Palestinian Refugee Problem. London: Pluto Books, 2003, p. 203. 65 In Syria, more than 115,000 people were displaced when Israeli forces occupied the Golan Heights and the Quneitra area. Among them were some 16,000 Palestinian refugees who were uprooted for the second time. Many moved towards Damascus and some to Dera’a further south. Takkenberg, Lex, The Status of Palestinian Refugees in International Law, Oxford: Clarendon Press Oxford, 1998, p. 17. 66 See Shehadeh, Raja, Occupier’s Law: Israel and the West Bank. Washington, DC: Institute for Palestine Studies, 1985, p. 63–75. See also UNSC Resolution 478 of 20 August 1980, affirming that “the enactment of the ‘basic law’ by Israel constitutes a violation of international law and does not affect the continued application of the Fourth Geneva Convention of 12 August 1949 Relative to the Protection of Civilian Persons in Time of War in the Palestinian and other Arab territory occupied since June 1967, including Jerusalem” and “[d]etermines that all legislative and administrative measures and actions taken by Israel, the occupying Power, which have altered or purport to alter the character and status of the Holy City of Jerusalem, and in particular the recent ‘basic law’ on Jerusalem, are null and void and must be rescinded forthwith.” See also Security Council Resolutions 267 (1969); 298 (1971); 446 (1979); 465 (1980); 476 (1980); 605 (1987). 23