ACRI submitted a petition to the Jerusalem Administrative Court in December 2006 on behalf of a Brazilian foreign national who is married to a Palestinian resident of the Occupied Territories, her husband and their young daughter. The petition demands that the Ministry of the Interior extend the validity of her tourist visa without requiring her to leave the country. The visa is essential in enabling her to remain with her family as she cannot submit an application for “family reunification” to formalize her status in the Occupied Territories. The petition was prepared by ACRI Attorney Azem Bishara.
The petitioner has up to this point resided legally in the Occupied Territories with a valid tourist visa that was issued by the Ministry of the Interior several years ago, and which was subsequently renewed every three months. However, when she last renewed the visa she was informed that it would be valid for a much shorter period of time than usual, and the renewed visa indeed expired in mid-December 2006. In addition, it was marked on her permit that this was the “final extension.” As a result, she is compelled to leave the country in order to renew the validity of her visa. Moreover, from previous experiences of other families it becomes apparent that, according to the Ministry of the Interior’‘s new policy, it is not at all certain that she would be allowed to return to the West Bank.
Attorney Bishara makes clear in the petition that the need to obtain a tourist visa and to repeatedly renew its validity, stems from the fact that since the beginning of the second Intifada in October 2000, applications for family reunification in the Occupied Territories and the granting of visitor permits have been frozen by Israel’‘s military commander. He explains that the new policy of the Ministry of the Interior blocks off any possibility of the family living together in the West Bank. The policy therefore constitutes a cruel and enforced separation of the family unit of the petitioners, as well as of other families in a similar situation. This policy disproportionately and illegally violates the right to family life, and the duty to act in the best interests of the child. It is tainted by extreme unreasonableness, contravenes the rules of natural justice, and is in breach of Israel’‘s obligations as stipulated by the interim agreement with the PLO (the Oslo Accords), which was adopted into domestic Israeli legislation in a special law.
In light of the above, the Court is asked to order the Minister of the Interior to extend the Israeli residency visa of the petitioner without requiring her to leave the country, and to continue to periodically renew the visa until such time as the petitioner can formalize her residency status in the West Bank, which will only occur when Israel renews the processing of family reunification applications in the West Bank.
last updated : 09/01/07
