Law quashes the right of Israeli Arab citizens to family life
A woman and her daughter join a demonstration in July
A woman and her daughter join a demonstration in July against the Citizenship and Entry into Israel Law
© AP
Families face being torn apart by the Citizenship and Entry into Israel Law, which discriminates on the basis of ethnicity and nationality
Thousands of Israeli Arab citizens continue to be denied the right to live as a family by a controversial law which was extended in July. The Citizenship and Entry into Israel Law bars Israelis married to Palestinians from the Occupied Territories from living together in Israel. They have no alternative but to live with their spouses "illegally" or have their families torn apart. For most, leaving the country altogether is simply not an option.
"At the Interior Ministry they told me to either get divorced or to go live in the West Bank," said Salwa Abu Jaber, 29, from northern Israel. Speaking to AI, she explained how her husband, Mahmoud al-Hader of Jenin, was repeatedly refused "family unification" - the authorization required of all Palestinians wishing to join their families in Israel. Faced with little choice, Mahmoud al-Hader has been forced to live illegally in Israel with his wife and their children. As a result, says Abu Jaber, "my husband is like a prisoner here; he cannot go anywhere for fear of being arrested and expelled again".
The law has been condemned at the international level as a form of ins utionalized racism because it discriminates against a group of people on the basis of their ethnicity and nationality. Given that it is mostly Israeli Arabs who marry Palestinians from the Occupied Territories, the law has a disproportionate impact on them.
First introduced in July 2003, the law is just one among many existing regulations and practices which discriminate against Palestinians in Israel and the Occupied Territories. These include the Entry into Israel Law and the Law of Return which automatically give Jews from anywhere in the world the right to become Israeli citizens and live in Israel or the Occupied Territories. At the same time, they deny the right to return to Palestinian refugees who were displaced or expelled during the creation of Israel in 1948 and subsequent conflicts. The Citizenship and Entry into Israel Law represents a further step in consolidating Israel’s policy of limiting the number of Palestinians who are permitted to live in the country.
The Israeli government has claimed that it is acting in the interests of national security, arguing that fewer Palestinians in the country would lessen the threat of violence and attacks carried out by them. However, these claims collapse in the face of comments made by Israeli ministers and officials describing the Palestinians - who account for 20 per cent of the population in Israel - as a "demographic threat". When the law was proposed it was the demographic argument that was emphasized, not security considerations.
In early July, AI reiterated its call for a repeal of the law, recommending that applications for family unification be processed according to non-discriminatory principles. AI has condemned the law not only for its discriminatory nature, but for its denial of the fundamental right to family life. Under international human rights law, Israel has a duty to protect the rights of the family, but in practice this obligation has not been extended to its Palestinian citizens.
For further information see Israel and the Occupied Territories Torn Apart: Families split by discriminatory policies (MDE 15/063/2004).
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