Article 74 January 1994, Issue No.7
January 1994, Issue No.7 (5)
Palestinian Residency in the Israeli-Palestinian Agreement
Written by Badil-AICWHAT ARE THE ISSUES?
Now, two months after the signing of the Declaration of Principles by Israel and the PLO in Washington, and one month after the meeting of the Refugee Committee/multilateral talks (Tunis, October 12 - 14), it has become somewhat easier to distinguish between rumors and facts:
- The question of the 1948 refugees, the status of Jerusalem, and the question of who will control the movement of Palestinian across the borders between the West Bank and Jordan and Gaza and Egypt will be discussed in the negotiations for the final status which will begin at the latest in the beginning of the third year of the interim period (i.e. 1997). Until then, that is for the next three years, Jerusalem and the borders will be under sole Israeli authority.
Although extensive individual efforts by the persons listed above have failed in the past to achieve positive results, we expect that local and international pressure on the Israeli authorities will cause them to reconsider their position.
Therefore the AIC has undertaken the following steps to prepare a modest campaign for their issue:
- Publishing the ex-prisoners’ story in a small report
- Sending two written requests to the Interior Ministry asking them to reconsider the policy of refusing family reunification to former political prisoners in Jerusalem. Both letters dated 5/12/93 and 10/1/94 have remained unanswered until now.
- Letters to several Israeli MKs who are known for having supported Palestinian residency rights in the past. Consequently, MK Tamar Gozanski/HADASH submitted a list of urgent questions to the Minister of the Interior, and MK Yael Dayan/LABOR adopted the cases of two activists presented in the AIC report. We are awaiting the results of their efforts.
The AIC has documented the cases of nine Jerusalem residents who were arrested for their political activities. Most of the families have remained living in Jerusalem, although the women can do so only illegally.
- All of the families suffer economic hardships and from a permanent feeling of insecurity.
- All but one of them have applied at least once for family reunification for their wives.
- All their applications have been refused by the Jerusalem Interior Ministry.
- Three out of nine report that they were told by the Interior Ministry clerks that their applications were
refused because of “security reasons”.
- Two out of nine were told they would be granted family reunification it they paid between US $ 2,000 -
6,000 to a “mediator”.
- One of them was told at the Interior Ministry that his request would be granted if he applied an
additional time. After he did so, his application was refused.
Political Prisoners' Right to Family Reunification
Written by Badil-AICWhile Israeli-Palestinian negotiations about control of the borders to Jordan and Egypt are still going on,
While we are still waiting for a major breakthrough on the issues of family reunification and lost IDs,
While we are witnessing first efforts by the Palestinian leadership to establish a “Jerusalem Task Force” which should put the issue of occupied Jerusalem on the agenda of the peace negotiations,
And - following an Israeli commitment to the universality and geographic non-separation of the right to family reunification (Refugee Working Group, Tunis, October 14, 1993)
- WE DEMAND
Palestinian Jerusalem on the Agenda NOW!
- AND WE INVITE YOU TO JOIN A FIRST AND CONCRETE CAMPAIGN:
Support Political Prisoners’ Right to Residency and Family Reunification in Jerusalem
HOTLINE vs. Jerusalem Municipality - “Free Public Education to Unregistered Palestinian Children in Jerusalem”:
Written by Badil-AICThe municipality has been conditioning public education for unregistered Palestinian children in Jerusalem upon payment of a special fee (NIS 350), based on the stand that these children are not citizens or permanent residents of Israel, and therefore are not eligible to free education. In mid-September 1994, HOTLINE achieved what seemed at first to be a major success by means of a petition to the High Court: the Jerusalem municipality agreed to accept unregistered Jerusalem children under the same conditions as resident children, and the demand for special fees was revoked. The municipality however, insisted that eligibility would be checked in every individual case. Since the public education system in East Jerusalem does not even offer places to all registered children, the result was clear: unregistered children would again be rejected, based on the argument that the schools are full and that registered children have priority. Therefore HOTLINE refused to compromise, and will continue its efforts until the municipality takes upon itself the responsibility to actually provide free public education to all the children living in Israel and East Jerusalem.
Réfugiés palestiniens et les déplacés internes (IDP)
Centre d’éducation sur la Nakba en Cours
Mobilisation et Intervention
