BADIL

The rushed nature of the election registration and the organizers’ lack of knowledge of Israeli demographic policies have unfortunately made most of the concerns expressed by local human rights activists (see AIC memorandum above) come true.
By December 12, the end of the registration period, only approximately 5,500 applications for ID cards were submitted by previously unregistered persons in the West Bank. In the Gaza Strip this opportunity, provided by the Taba Agreement was entirely missed: only 180 applications for ID cards were received by the PA. Thus the number of applications has remained far below the estimated 20,000 - 30,000 persons eligible under Article II/1/g. Of special concern is the fact that the PA-Civil Affairs clerks seem uninformed about prior Israeli High Court decisions and Israeli policy declarations concerning the above category of unregistered persons living in the country. Approximately 50 percent of those who applied for ID cards via the Civil Affairs Committee (non-resident spouses of residents who entered the country between 1990 and August 31, 1992) have a right to ID cards already based on the November “92 High Court Agreement and the summer 1993 policy statement issued by the Israeli State Legal Advisor. They were required to pay a registration fee of US $ 100, although Israel had already agreed to exempt them from additional fees in case the Israeli civil administration would ask them to submit an updated family reunification application. Since the clerks at the PA-Civil Affairs office lack the relevant background information, they tended to accept only applications which included a full record of entry permits for the past three-four years - something which many could not provide. It is likely that they also rejected applications from among those who are eligible to register under the old Israeli provisions.
Currently, the Israeli side is scrutinizing the files collected by the PA. As of December 15, approximately 600 applications have been approved and their names are published in the Palestinian daily press. Approximately 17 percent of the applications have been refused by Israel with no reasons given.

You may be surprised by the strange title of today’s column. However, as the Palestinian people approach the first elections in which they will democratically chose their leadership - something we have been waiting and struggling to achieve for generations - an important question arises. What will become of the Palestinian refugees who vote and run in the elections? Will they no longer be considered refugees, because of their participation?

Issued by the Alternative Information Center/Project for Palestinian Residency and Refugee Rights, Jerusalem - Bethlehem, November 1995

1. The current registration for the Palestinian election registry in NOT simply a registration for the elections to the Palestinian Council. It represents the first Palestinian effort to register the adult population of the 1967 occupied territories, parallel to the population registry handled by the Israeli civil administration and the Israeli interior ministry (East Jerusalem).

2. If the elections will be held on the scheduled date (January 20, 1996), we must expect that this population registration will only be partial:

2.1 A major portion of the estimated 20,000 - 30,000 persons without prior legal resident status will not be able to obtain resident status, although they are eligible according to Article II/1/g. The absence of decentralized registration offices in the rural areas, as well as the lack of systematic information and guidance to master the detailed registration forms (in three languages) threaten to again exclude the weak strata of the society, especially rural women, who represent the largest group among the unregistered population.

2.2 Non-resident spouses of Palestinian residents who entered the country after August 31, 1993 are not protected by previous decisions of the Israeli High Court. Hundreds, if not thousands of such spouses are currently considered illegally present in the country. They remain unprotected by Article II/1/g of the new agreement as well, because they cannot present the required proof of three - four years’ presence in Palestine. Thus Article II/1/g conveys resident status only to those spouses already protected by the Israeli High Court and offers no solution to the unprotected group composed mainly of young couples.

2.3 Approximately 100,000 persons who were residents of the 1967 occupied territories until Israel revoked their status (“lost IDs”) will remain unregistered. Although the Taba Agreement (Article 28/3) states that their problem will be solved by a Joint Committee, no such committee has yet been established and this group will have to forfeit their right to participate in the elections.

3. Due to the ongoing Israeli claim to sole sovereignty over East Jerusalem, population registration in the city is an even more complex and sensitive matter.

3.1 The current Palestinian registration conducted among East Jerusalemites aims to expose the Israeli demographic data as partial. Its results will represent a major bargaining tool in the future political negotiations with Israel. Since the Taba Agreement provides that Palestinian Jerusalemites living outside city boundaries are not registered at their place of residence, it must be expected that people will be reluctant to register for fear of loosing their Jerusalem resident status. This especially since, according to Article II/2/g, all data gathered must be transferred to the Israeli side (which holds the right to compare them with the data in the Israeli population registry).

3.2 Article II/1/g obviously doesn’t include the inhabitants of East Jerusalem. Therefore, persons living in the city without Israel-issued ID cards will not be allowed to register in the Palestinian census, even if they prove that they have lived in the city for three of four years respectively.

3.3 The situation of “lost IDs” in East Jerusalem is even more difficult than that of persons originating from other parts of the West Bank. This is because the Joint Committee charged with solving the issue of “lost IDs” according to the Taba Agreement (Article 28/3), will not be authorized to handle cases from East Jerusalem.

4. The issue of Palestinian refugees living in the refugee camps of the West Bank and the Gaza Strip: unless Israel and the international community provide guarantees, the registration in the PA population registry will question their special status and may be later used to exclude them from future political agreements [see below].
 

Confirmation of the Cairo-Model of Residency in Palestine

The recent agreement signed between the PLO and the Israeli government in Washington on 28 September 1995, contains no surprises. The Taba (Oslo II) Agreement elaborates the procedures for the Israeli redeployment in the West Bank based on the principles and procedures already defined in the DOP (1993) and the Cairo Agreement (1994). The Taba Agreement - similar to the preceding agreements - conveys Israel’s ongoing control over all major security and civil affairs, including population registry, family reunification and entry and exit from the areas administered by the Palestinian Authority.

Thus we will witness in 1996 the establishment of an administrative system in the West Bank (based on the Gaza-Jericho model) already infamous for its restrictions on movement, its bureaucratic awkwardness and its proness to all forms of favoritism and bribery. Following the example of their compatriots in Gaza, West Bank residents will also, from now on, have to submit their applications for family reunification and visit permits to the regional Liaison Committees, which then transfer them to the Israeli Liaison officers for approval. Rejected applications will be discussed in the Joint Liaison Committee by the Israeli officers (mainly the officers of the former Israeli civil administration in new disguise) and the Palestinian officers who usually lack prior relevant experience. The victims are the Palestinian people whose right to family unity and to freedom of movement becomes the subject of a lengthy bargaining procedure without means for legal redress.
Human rights organizations and lawyers may face a new situation in which the Israeli authorities and courts refuse to accept appeals on behalf of their clients, based on the argument that according to the political agreements with the PLO, all petitions by Palestinian residents must be channeled through the Liaison Committees. Most of the approximately 1,200 Israeli military orders issued in the occupied West Bank and Gaza Strip have not been canceled and presently coexist parallel to the provisions of the political agreements. The problem of overlapping legislation remains unresolved and represents an additional obstacle to efficient human rights work.

Family Reunification and Visitors Permits

The Taba Agreement does not signal any changes in the old and obscure system of family reunification. As long as the insufficient Israeli quota for family reunification (2,000 cases of 6,000 persons annually) remains, Palestinian residents of the 1967 occupied territories will continue to suffer the consequences of forced separation from their spouses and close relatives.
Israel maintains control over the issuing of visitors permits to the West Bank and the Gaza Strip, although Article 28/13 promises a less restrictive situation: Israel agreed to issue visitors permits throughout the whole year (and not only in the summer season), every relative or friend (not only first degree relatives) are now eligible to submit an application and visit permits allow the holder to enter East Jerusalem and Israel.

Achievements of the Taba Agreement

The new agreement does not introduce any changes in the framework of the negotiations on refugee questions; the situation of the Palestinian people living in the diaspora remains desolate. On the other hand, this agreement establishes, for the first time, a procedure for a Palestinian population registry and may thus contribute somewhat to securing the residency rights of those already living inside the 1967 occupied territories:

- Article II (“The Right to Vote and the Electoral Register”) outlines the framework for the Palestinian election registration in the West Bank (including East Jerusalem) and the Gaza Strip to be conducted by the Palestinian Authority. The results of the registration must be handed to the Israeli side, which has the right to cancel the names of persons who, according to Israeli records, are not eligible for resident status. The final decision lies with a Joint Appeal Commission.

- The Taba Agreement provides for the legalization of the status of all persons able to prove their presence in the West Bank/Gaza Strip for a consecutive period of 3-4 years (Article II/1/g/1,2). These persons have the right to register in the population registry and to vote and will be issued ID cards in the future.

- It grants the Palestinian Authority the right to register newborn children who have at least one resident Palestinian parent without Israeli interference (Article 28/12).

- It provides for the establishment of a Joint Committee to clarify the residency status of Palestinians whose ID cards were revoked by the Israeli authorities in the past (Article 28/3).

- Article 28/4 states that the Palestinian Authority will issue new identity cards with new serial numbers one year after the signing of the agreement (September 1996). The new identification numbers and the numbering system will be transferred to the Israeli side.