[lbo-talk] Knesset Passes Racist Law Barring Family Unification of Palestinians Married to Israeli Citizens: Adalah to Petition Supreme Court

[Bryan Atinsky]

For text of the law in English go to:
http://www.indymedia.org.il/imc/webcast/62942.html

31 July 2003

Knesset Passes Racist Law Barring Family Unification of Palestinians Married
to Israeli Citizens: Adalah to Petition Supreme Court

Today, by a vote of 53 in favor, 25 against, and one abstention, the Knesset
(Israeli Parliament) passed a new law titled, "Nationality and Entry into
Israel Law (Temporary Order) - 2003." Introduced and supported by the
government, the law bars Palestinians from the Occupied Territories from
obtaining citizenship or residency status in Israel by marriage to an
Israeli citizen, thus prohibiting them from living in Israel with their
spouses. It will affect thousands of married couples and their children, who
are currently living in Israel, as well as newly married couples, forcing
families to separate or to leave the country.

The new law will primarily affect Palestinian citizens of Israel, as they
are the Israeli citizens who marry Palestinians from the Occupied
Territories. It also exclusively and solely targets Palestinians; the
general policy for residency and citizenship status in Israel for all other
"foreign spouses" remains unchanged. The new law violates individuals'
fundamental constitutional rights to family life, dignity, privacy, and
equality, and amounts to discrimination on the basis of ethnic or national
belonging.

"The new law takes away constitutionally-protected rights explicitly on the
basis of ethnic or national belonging," says Attorney Hassan Jabareen,
General Director of Adalah. "While numerous Israeli laws discriminate
against Arab citizens of the state, as they privilege one group - the Jewish
majority - over the other, this law takes away rights. Thus, the law is not
only discriminatory, it is racist."

Given the constitutional rights at stake, imposing such a bar on family
unification is completely disproportionate. The government claims that the
new law is essential because Palestinians from the Occupied Territories who
have obtained citizenship or residency status in Israel via family
unification have been increasingly involved in terror activity. However, the
government has many other tools and mechanisms to address security concerns.
It has broad authority to conduct criminal and security background checks on
all persons seeking to gain status in Israel, and it consistently uses this
power throughout the current years-long family unification process. By
setting forth such a sweeping measure, the new law amounts to collective
punishment.

Adalah Attorney Orna Kohn, who has petitioned the Supreme Court against a
similar government decision passed last year and who has been extensively
lobbying against the passage of the new law, emphasizes that: "Even if the
government's facts are true, they do not justify the violation of an entire
population's fundamental rights. A basic rule of law is to prevent harm to
fundamental rights based on collective suspicion. Security concerns cannot
justify such extreme measures."

Adalah will file a petition to the Supreme Court of Israel challenging the
legality of the new law.