Summary
IDF Order No. 101, the Order Regarding Prohibition of Incitement and Hostile Propaganda Actions for the West Bank, signed by Uzi Narkis, OC Central Command and Commander of IDF Forces in the West Bank, on 27 August 1967 and in force from that day, as presented in the consolidated B’Tselem translation incorporating amendments by Orders No. 718 (1977), 938 (1981), 1079 (1983) and 1423 (1995): it defines assembly, vigil and procession as gatherings of ten or more persons for a purpose that is or may be construed as political, requires a military commander’s permit for any such gathering and for holding, waving, displaying or affixing flags or political symbols, licenses all printing or publication of material having a political significance, criminalizes attempts to influence public opinion in a manner liable to harm public safety or public order and, in section 7A, publishing praise, sympathy or support for a hostile organization or acts revealing identification with one, gives military commanders the censor’s powers under the Defense (Emergency) Regulations, 1945 and power to close cafés, clubs and other public gathering places, authorizes every soldier to use the degree of force necessary to enforce it, and punishes violations with imprisonment for ten years or a fine of ten thousand liras, or both (Order Regarding Prohibition of Incitement and Hostile Propaganda Actions (Order No. 101, 1967), PDF p.1-3).
What the file is
The B’Tselem English translation of the Order in one 3-page PDF, about 1,186 words as supplied, headed as a document of the Legal Advisor for Judea and Samaria Region with the notice that it is for internal work needs and is not an official full version. The text is consolidated: marginal notes mark amendments by Orders No. 1423 and 1079 against section 1, Order No. 1423 against sections 3 and 10, Order No. 1079 against section 5, Orders No. 938 and 1079 (and an “Amendment of mistake”) against section 7A, and Order No. 718 against section 10, and an amendments list on PDF p.3 dates Orders No. 718, 938, 1079 and 1423 between 22 July 1977 and 26 January 1995, so the file does not separate the 27 August 1967 text as signed from the later amended text. The two-column layout interleaves marginal headings and amendment notes; the text copy reassembles them in section order and was checked against the original at PDF p.1 and p.3, which reads the same on the points recorded in Open questions, including section 12’s number. No Hebrew text, table or figure appears in the file.
Section by section
- Preamble (PDF p.1). The commander, of the opinion that the Order is necessary for the security of the region and for the maintenance of public order and proper administration, orders as follows.
- Section 1, Definitions (PDF p.1-2). “the region” is the region of the West Bank. “assembly” is ten or more persons gathered in a place in which a speech is being made on a political subject, or which may be construed as political, or to discuss such a subject. “police forces” has its meaning in the Order Regarding Police Forces Operating in Cooperation with the IDF (West Bank Region) (No. 52), 5727 – 1967. “vigil” is ten or more persons gathered in a place for a political purpose or for a matter that may be construed as political. “print” and “printing” include lithography, typewriting, duplication, photography, recording, filming and any other way to describe or copy words, literature, signs, pictures, maps, drawings, decorations, films, voices, sounds and other such material. “newspaper” is any publication containing news, reports, stories of events or any comments, discussions, surveys or explanations regarding them, or any other matter of public interest, printed in any language and published in or outside of Israel, for sale or free, at fixed or irregular times. “publication” is any newspaper, periodical, collection or book, film, cassette, recording, and any document published or intended for publication, also for a single time, and such a document is deemed intended for publication unless proved otherwise. “published” includes distributing, dispersing, handing out, delivering, announcing, supplying or providing to any person in writing, orally, in print, by voice, by screening or by any other means. “procession” is ten or more persons walking together or gathering to walk together from place to place, for a political purpose or a matter that may be construed as political, whether they actually move and whether arranged as a group or not. Every term defined in the Order Regarding Security Provisions has that order’s meaning unless explicitly stated otherwise.
- Section 2, Delegation of powers (PDF p.2). A military commander may authorize any soldier or member of the police forces to exercise his powers under this Order.
- Section 3, Organizing of assemblies, processions and vigils (PDF p.2). A. A procession, assembly or vigil shall not be held other than in accordance with a permit from a military commander. B. The commander of IDF forces in the region may establish, in a notice to the public, conditions for submitting a request for such a permit.
- Section 4, Closing of places (PDF p.2). A military commander may order any owner of a café, club or other place in which the public gathers to close it for the period he specifies; where such an order is given, any person in the place that was closed shall be deemed to have violated the order.
- Section 5, Waving of flags (PDF p.2). “It is forbidden to hold, wave, display or affix flags or political symbols, except in accordance with a permit of the military commander.”
- Section 6, Political material (PDF p.2). It is forbidden to print or publicize in the region any publication of notice, poster, photo, pamphlet or other document containing material having a political significance, unless a license is previously obtained from the military commander of the place in which the printing or publication is intended.
- Section 7, Incitement (PDF p.2). Any person who attempts, orally or in another manner, to influence public opinion in the region in a manner liable to harm public safety or public order, or does any act or has in his possession any object with intent to do or facilitate such an attempt, will be charged with violating this Order.
- Section 7A, Support of a hostile organization (PDF p.2). Any person who publishes praise, sympathy or support for a hostile organization, its actions or objectives, or does an act revealing identification with or sympathy for a hostile organization, its actions or objectives — by waving a flag, displaying a symbol or slogan, singing a hymn or sounding a slogan, or any similar act clearly revealing identification or sympathy — in a public place or so that persons in a public place can see or hear it, will be charged with violating this Order. “hostile organization” means a hostile organization within the Order Regarding Prohibition on Training and Contact with a Hostile Organization outside the Region (Judea and Samaria) (No. 284), 5729 – 1968, or an unlawful association within section 84 of the Defense (Emergency) Regulations, 1945.
- Section 8, Censorship (PDF p.3). A military commander and any person delegated by him for this purpose shall have all the powers given to the censor under the Defense (Emergency) Regulations, 1945.
- Section 9, Implementation powers (PDF p.3). Without derogating from a soldier’s powers under the Order Regarding Security Provisions, every soldier is authorized to use the degree of force necessary to carry out a command given under this Order or to prevent its violation.
- Section 10, Offenses (PDF p.3). A. A person who organizes a procession, assembly or vigil without a permit, calls for or instigates their being held, encourages them or participates in them in any way; or B. a person who violates this Order or any order given under it or does an act declared an offense under it, shall be liable for imprisonment for ten years or a fine of ten thousand liras, or both.
- Section 11, Commencement of validity (PDF p.3). “This Order shall commence on 21 Av 5727 (27 August 1967).”
- Section 12, Name (PDF p.3). The Order shall be called the Order Regarding Prohibition on Incitement and Hostile Propaganda Actions (West Bank Region) (No. 1010), 5727 – 1967, as printed — see Open questions.
- Signature, citation and amendments list (PDF p.3). Dated 21 Av 5727, 27 August 1967, signed Uzi Narkis, OC Central Command and Commander of IDF Forces in the West Bank. Citation KOCM 6, p. 220. Amendments: 1. Order No. 718 (Amendment No. 1) (22 July 1977), KOCM 41, p. 142; 2. Order No. 938 (Amendment No. 1) (5 October 1981), KOCM 51, p. 32, as printed; 3. Order No. 1079 (Amendment No. 3) (14 October 1983), KOCM 63, p. 4; 4. Order No. 1423 (Amendment No. 4) (26 January 1995), KOCM 160, p. 1773. Closing line: translated by B’Tselem.
Key passages
- “It is forbidden to hold, wave, display or affix flags or political symbols, except in accordance with a permit of the military commander” (section 5, PDF p.2)
- “This Order shall commence on 21 Av 5727 (27 August 1967)” (section 11, PDF p.3)
Evidence the work relies on
A military order, not an evidentiary work. It incorporates by reference the Order Regarding Police Forces Operating in Cooperation with the IDF (No. 52), the Order Regarding Security Provisions, the Order Regarding Prohibition on Training and Contact with a Hostile Organization outside the Region (No. 284) and section 84 of the Defense (Emergency) Regulations, 1945, none of which is reproduced in the file, and the censor’s powers under those Regulations. Its own stated ground, in the preamble, is the commander’s opinion that it is necessary for the security of the region and for the maintenance of public order and proper administration.
Analysis
The Order’s reach follows from its definitions: the permit regime in section 3 attaches at ten persons and to purposes that only “may be construed as political”, section 6 licenses in advance any printed document containing material having a political significance, and section 7 is not confined to speech advocating violence — it covers any attempt to influence public opinion in a manner liable to harm public safety or public order, and possession of any object with intent to facilitate such an attempt. Section 7A extends liability to expression of praise, sympathy, support or identification, including by flag, symbol, slogan or hymn. Enforcement is layered: delegation to any soldier or police member (section 2), closure of gathering places with presence itself deemed a violation (section 4), censorship powers (section 8), necessary force by every soldier (section 9), and a single maximum in section 10 — ten years, ten thousand liras, or both — covering organizing, calling for, encouraging or participating in an unpermitted gathering and every other violation alike. Because the file is a consolidated, expressly unofficial version, which words are 1967 and which are 1977-1995 amendments cannot be separated from this file beyond the marginal amendment notes.
People, organizations, places and events
Order No. 101: Prohibition of Incitement and Hostile Propaganda Actions, Israel Defense Forces, West Bank, British Emergency Regulations
Concepts
How it relates to other sources
This is the first primary military-order text of the West Bank permit and incitement regime held as a source in the wiki. Its section 8 and section 7A reliance on the Defense (Emergency) Regulations, 1945 connects it to the British Emergency Regulations as they are carried into Israeli military government: the Regulations supply both the censor’s powers the commander assumes and, through section 84, part of the definition of the hostile organization whose support is criminalized. Its definitions of region as the West Bank and its 27 August 1967 commencement — eleven weeks after the June 1967 occupation began, on the chronology other sources give — place it among the earliest occupation enactments in the wiki, alongside the 28 June 1967 Jerusalem municipal expansion incorporated by section 5 of Basic Law: Jerusalem, Capital of Israel (1980). No other ingested source in the wiki quotes or names Order No. 101, so there is no second account to set against this text.
Open questions
- Section 12 names the Order “(No. 1010), 5727 – 1967”, as printed in the original and byte-verified in the text copy, against “Order No. 101” in the heading on PDF p.1, in the PDF’s own title metadata and in the supplied title. Both numbers are kept; the file does not explain the extra digit. Section 12 also says “Prohibition on Incitement” against the heading’s “Prohibition of Incitement”.
- The amendments list gives Order No. 938 as “(Amendment No. 1)”, duplicating the number given to Order No. 718, and lists no Amendment No. 2, while Order No. 1079 is Amendment No. 3 and Order No. 1423 is Amendment No. 4. All are kept as printed.
- The header states the document is for internal work needs and is not an official full version, and the text is consolidated through 1995 amendments, so the file alone does not establish the Order’s exact 1967 wording or its current wording after 1995.
- Section 7A’s marginal notes include an “Amendment of mistake” with no order number or date in the text.
- The text copy’s signature block duplicates “in” (“Commander of IDF Forces in in the West Bank”); a fresh extraction of the original reads it once, so the duplication is not asserted of the original.
- The orders and Regulations incorporated by reference (Nos. 52, 284, the Order Regarding Security Provisions, and the Defense (Emergency) Regulations, 1945) are not reproduced in the file.
Coverage
PDF p.1-3 of 3, read in full.