Military Order 101

Issued in August 1967, two months after the occupation of the West Bank began, Military Order 101 — formally the “Order Regarding Prohibition of Acts of Incitement and Hostile Propaganda” — requires a permit from the Israeli military commander for any procession, gathering, or assembly of ten or more people held for a political purpose or at which a political matter is discussed. It also prohibits publishing or distributing material of “political significance” and displaying flags or political symbols without permission. Violations carry prison sentences of up to ten years.

The order has served for decades as the legal basis for suppressing Palestinian protest in the West Bank. Demonstrations against settlements, land confiscation, the separation barrier, and military operations are routinely declared illegal under it and dispersed by force; Amnesty International’s 2014 report Trigger-happy: Israel’s Use of Excessive Force in the West Bank documents protesters killed and injured in this context, most of them in gatherings that were illegal under the order simply for lack of a permit.

Human rights organizations argue that Military Order 101 is incompatible with the rights to freedom of expression and peaceful assembly guaranteed by the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, which Israel has ratified and which human rights bodies hold to apply in the occupied territory. Israel maintains that the restrictions are necessary security measures in territory under military control. The order remains in force, and it is a central example cited in analyses of the sweeping restrictions placed on Palestinian civil and political life under occupation.

Sources

• Military Order 101 — B’Tselem
• Trigger-happy: Israel’s Use of Excessive Force in the West Bank — Amnesty International, 2014