The Association for Civil Rights in Israel (ACRI) submitted a petition on, 17 January 2007, to the High Court of Justice, against the Minister of the Interior, the IDF Commander for Judea and Samaria, and the Head of Southern Command. The petition calls for the cancellation of The Law of Citizenship and Entry into Israel (Temporary Order), which was extended last week for three months. The petition was submitted by ACRI Attorneys, Sharon Abraham Weiss, Dan Yakir, and Oded Feller.
On 14 May 2006 eleven HCJ Justices issued their ruling on the petitions regarding the Law of Citizenship and Entry into Israel (Temporary Order). Six of the eleven Justices ruled that the law, which prevents Palestinian spouses of Israeli citizens/residents from receiving legal status in the country, is illegal, and denies the right to family life and equality. Five of the Justices stated that the law is illegal and should be rescinded within six months of the ruling’‘s issuance, and Justice Edmond Levy voiced his opinion that the law cannot remain in force, and that the Sate should institute an alternative procedure within nine months. He also said that he was doubtful whether the law would be able to survive future judicial review”. Despite these statements the State has not only failed to revoke the law, but has also extended it twice in its original format, and will remain in force until 15 April 2007.
The resultant effect is that the law, despite the opinion of the majority of Justices that the law is illegal and severely violates the right to family life and equality, is still in force eight months after the ruling, and will be for at least for another eleven months. In fact, since March 2000, Interior Ministry clerks have not processed any new residency status applications submitted by Palestinians in Israel. This decision was originally based on instructions issued by the then Minister of the Interior, Eli Yishai; and were later formalized by the enactment, in the summer of 2003, of the Temporary Order, which is periodically renewed. Claims by the State that the law is designed to bring about a “temporary equilibrium”, and that it is only a “temporary measure”, cannot be substantiated when one considers the fact that the law has already been in force for five years and is slated for additional extensions. One must add to the aforementioned, the fact that the Knesset is currently deliberating on government proposals to extend the law for an additional two years, further expand its provisions, and to introduce supplementary restrictions. In effect, the Attorneys add, a judicial regime has been created which “slices through the very essence of Israeli democracy, and undercuts its founding principles”. It also “undermines the daily lives of women, men and children who have committed no sin and tramples underfoot any basis for stability”. As time passes, the petition adds, there is a growing fear that a family member will be expelled or arrested, and an increasing sense of humiliation that hangs like a stone around the families’‘ necks.
The petition further emphasizes the racist implications of the law, which impacts exclusively on the Arab minority as the constituency that most naturally forms familial ties in Israel with residents of the Occupied Territories. This is in addition to the discrimination endured, personally, by the Palestinian spouse on the basis of his/her national origins, and the severe violation of the basic right to family life.
As a result of the ongoing suffering and the extreme uncertainty that many families are subject to, the Attorneys asked the court to schedule an urgent hearing of the petition.
last updated : 05/02/07
