Article 74 December 1994, Issue No.11
December 1994, Issue No.11 (12)
AIC-Project for Palestinian Residency & Refugee Rights (PPRRR)
Written by Badil-AIC1994 Activity Report
The following groups and organizations were partners in the campaigning and advocacy work of the PPRRR:
AFSC/Chicago: US-campaign for Palestinian residency rights in Jerusalem; US-public pressure contributed to the solution, without legal procedures, of 4 (of a total of 9) cases of Jerusalem ex-political prisoners who had been refused family reunification for their wives.
Jerusalem Link: Lobbying among Knesset members for the amendment of the Law of Entry to Israel so as to include the right to permanent residency to spouses of non-Jewish citizens of Israel (ongoing).
New Problems with Family Reunification in Jerusalem
Written by Badil-AICThe new policy of family reunification and visa/visit permits announced by the Interior Ministry in spring 1994, has - for the first time - made husbands of East Jerusalem residents eligible for family reunification and allowed them to stay in the city while their applications are pending (see ARTICLE 74/8-9;10). While it is true that several non-resident husbands have since been granted family reunification, human rights organizations will now have to tackle the problem of those whose applications are rejected. As in the past, criteria for applications are not published and not detectable from the Interior Ministry’s answers which seem to depend mainly on the whim (“discretion” in Israeli legal language) of the official in charge.
The problem is serious, because these husbands - usually the main income providers - cut all their ties abroad (left their homes, stopped work) when the new policy finally offered them the opportunity to stay with their wives in Jerusalem. Once their application for family reunification is refused, in many cases more than one year after their arrival to the city, they have no place to go, and the family is faced with yet another crisis.
Child Registration in East Jerusalem - Issue Unresolved
Written by Badil-AICMarriages between Palestinian women, residents of East Jerusalem, and men from the surrounding West Bank are frequent. Besides problems with obtaining Jerusalem residency rights for the husband, these couples also face difficulties in registering their children as residents of the city, even if they are born in a Jerusalem hospital.
Confidential Report by the Israeli Ministerial Committee for Jerusalem Affairs
Written by Badil-AICThe major section of the 13 page report presents official confirmation of data and criticism for decades by Israeli mayors and mainstream politicians: “A great number of [Arab families] suffer from serious economic problems ... the level of physical infrastructure and social services in the non-Jewish neighborhoods are ... far below that of the Jewish neighborhoods.” Other major problems listed are: shortage of housing, roads, the deficient water and sewage system, and the lack of basic services for children, youths and the elderly. According to the report, only 13 of the city’s 30 Arab neighborhoods have zoning plans (which are a precondition for infrastructural improvements).
While the report thus admits many of the disastrous results of 27 years of Israeli annexation of East Jerusalem, the authors are not motivated by a new Israeli concern for the needs of the city’s Palestinian population. “The lack of proper social services in Jerusalem’s Arab sector has created a vacuum being filled by Palestinian groups, largely Hamas and Fatah ... Those groups today operate a wide range of leisure activities, training courses, and community activities.” In order to eliminate the threat represented by these groups, the report recommends to the Israeli government to invest approximately US $ 100 mil. in the improvement of infrastructure and services in East Jerusalem (Jerusalem Post, 3/11/94; unfortunately this report is not available to the public).
Interior Ministry Forces Palestinian Women to Renounce Israeli Citizenship
Written by Badil-AICIn 1987, `Itedal Abu-Hilal, from `Ara village located inside the green line, married a resident or Tulkarem in the West Bank. When the couple’s first son was born, the mother was told that she could register the child only if she signed that she would renounce her Israeli citizenship, which she did. Also, Naifa Al-Wakarda from Lud, married to a West Bank resident, was pressured to sign a similar statement every time she arrived to the Interior Ministry in order to register one of her children. Zuhera Abu-Shab was compelled to renounce her citizenship when she applied for a driving license.
Empty Promises
Family Reunification for Humanitarian Reasons - Family Reunification for Palestinian Spouses
In summer 1993, the Israeli government issued a statement concerning its future policy regarding family reunification in the West Bank and Gaza Strip. This policy statement, which attempted to circumvent criticism at the multilateral negotiations, was further clarified in spring 1994 and has since been treated as the official reference on family reunification in the occupied territories (including the areas administered by the PNA, excluding East Jerusalem). The policy statement provides that 2,000 family reunifications would be granted annually to persons belonging to one of three categories:
What is the meaning of deportation of spouses and the consequent separation of Palestinian families in an Israel which has committed itself to peace? Israel promised, in the multilateral peace negotiations, to adapt its family reunification policy to international standards which provide for privileged procedures for foreign spouses. How long will Israel remain the only country that does no protect the residency rights of spouses of its subjects? The success of legal efforts and campaigns by human rights organizations in the region depends on international support. Remember - Israel’s weak spot is international public opinion, not the outcry of thousands of Palestinians and local human rights activists!
Brief journalists and politicians in your country and write editorial letters to your local newspapers.
In summer 1994, Khaula Salem, a young Palestinian woman raised in Jordan, arrived to the West Bank on a visit permit in order to marry Khaled Karmeh from Bethlehem. At the end of October, the newly-wed couple was summoned to the Bethlehem civil administration. On November 3, Khaled met with Captain Gil who informed him that his wife’s visit permit would not be renewed because she does not belong to the population protected by current agreements, and that she has to leave the country immediately. Then, Captain Gil confiscated Khaled’s ID card and told him that he would return it only after his wife’s departure.
From Israel and the Areas Administered by the PNA
Written by Badil-AIC- In December 1994, the Palestinian authorities in Gaza submitted 2,240 applications for family reunification to the Israeli authorities. These will serve as a test case for Israeli policy regarding family reunification in the autonomous areas. [Source: Walid Zaqut, Palestinian-Israeli Liaison Committee for Civil Affairs, Gaza]
- Gaza Students Still Denied Access to West Bank Universities: 600 of the 856 Gaza students at West Bank universities are still denied entry permits to Israel. On December 13, 1994, Israel declared that: ”In spite of the existing closure, the Prime Minister and the Minister of Defense, Mr. Yitzhak Rabin, has recently allowed 200 students from Gaza to study at Bir-Zeit University in the region of Judea and Samaria subject to the following conditions:
Implications of the Israeli-Jordanian Peace on Palestinian Residency Rights: Many Questions, Few Answers
Written by Badil-AICIsraeli-Jordanian Borders Remain Closed for the People of the Region
Who are the Jordanians that will be issued Israeli tourist visas? “Every Jordanian citizen,” was the Israeli delegation’s answer to an inquiry by its Palestinian counterpart. This answer seemed too good to be true, because opening the borders for Jordanian citizens would require the abolition of the restrictive system of visit permits to Israel for Palestinian visitors in Israel and the occupied territories. In fact, an investigation into the “new regulations” revealed old news. The Israeli Interior Ministry was unwilling to provide information, the new Israeli embassy in Amman was more cooperative: Since the embassy in Amman does not (yet) have a visa department, Jordanian citizens cannot apply for Israeli visas by themselves. As in the past, one of their close relatives in Israel or in the 1967 occupied territories must apply at the Interior Ministry/Civil Administration for a visit permit on their behalf. Jordanian citizens who do not have close relatives in Israel/Palestine simply cannot come to visit. In the meantime, Palestinian residents of the occupied territories continue to be refused visit permits for close relatives even in emergency cases. Israeli fears of being flooded by thousands of Palestinian “tourist-refugees” seem to compel the authorities to maintain the old system of selection of Jordanians allowed entry.
Jordanian visas for Israelis, on the other hand, are also limited. The official explanation is the limited number of Jordanian hotels able to host Israeli tourist groups. However, it appears that behind this official explanation stands the strong Jordanian public pressure for the boycott of relations with Israel.
Israel Denies Dual Citizenship for Palestinian Residents of East Jerusalem
Based on the current Israeli policy of encouraging Palestinian residents of East Jerusalem to take Israeli citizenship, the Palestinian community was stirred by an announcement of the Israeli Interior Ministry that “following the Israeli-Jordanian peace agreement, Israel will treat residency matters concerning Jordanian citizens just like those concerning any other foreign citizen.” This statement was interpreted by both the Israeli and Palestinian press as another Israeli attempt to make Israeli citizenship more attractive to Palestinian Jerusalemites: from now on they will no longer have to renounce their Jordanian citizenship in exchange for an Israeli passport. The interpretation was based on the experience with thousands of Israelis, immigrants and native-born, who are allowed to hold two passports. Even the Mufti of Jerusalem felt compelled to threaten the Friday worshipers with heavenly and social retribution if they accept the new Israeli offer.
However, the uproar was pre-mature. Selectivity has always been Israel’s guiding principle when it comes to granting citizenship to non-Jews, and this will remain in effect even in the “new era of peace”. The Interior Ministry hurried to clarify its earlier statement: “Citizenship for non-Jewish foreigners is regulated by the Law of Entry to Israel, and this law does not permit dual citizenship. Jewish persons, citizens of any country in the world, become Israeli citizens according to the Law of Return, which does permit dual citizenship” (Kol Ha’ir, 25/11/94).
Will Confiscated Palestinian Property be Returned Following the Israeli-Jordanian Peace Agreement?
The Law Concerning Absentee Property (1948/1967) provides that lands and property belonging to absent subjects of an enemy country be transferred to Custodian of Absentee Property who has the right to sell them to state or private parties as he sees fit. This law remains a major tool for the confiscation of Palestinian property inside the green line and in East Jerusalem. Many of the original Palestinian owners hold Jordanian citizenship, and since the Israeli-Jordanian peace agreement abolishes their status as “subjects of an enemy state” they had hoped for the re-instatement of their property rights. According to the Israeli State Attorney this will not be the case, since amendments of the Law Concerning Absentee Property require new legislation. Moreover, Israel and Jordan would have to ratify a special agreement concerning bilateral compensation in which Israel would also raise its claims concerning Jewish property in Jordan (Inquiry by Land & Water on the State Attorney’s office).
Réfugiés palestiniens et les déplacés internes (IDP)
Centre d’éducation sur la Nakba en Cours
Mobilisation et Intervention
