Thursday, July 31, 2003
New Israeli law poised to split Arab families
Reuters Jerusalem, July 31
Israeli-Arab school teacher Said Abu Muammar is resigned to hiding his Palestinian wife for the rest of their married life under a law passed by parliament on Thursday barring her from living in the Jewish state. The government-backed bill, passed at its third and final reading in the Knesset, denies citizenship or permanent residency to all Palestinians from the West Bank and Gaza Strip who are married to Israelis, usually to Arab citizens of Israel.
"It's a cruel, racist and inhumane law," Abu Muammar said. He has been hiding his wife in his house in central Israel since their marriage more than a year ago.
The right-wing politicians who sponsored the bill called the legislation an essential tool in Israel's war against Palestinian militants who have killed hundreds of Israelis in suicide attacks in a 34-month-old uprising for statehood.
The bill enshrines in law years of foot-dragging by the Interior Ministry which has systematically denied requests from Israeli citizens, most of them from the country's Arab minority, to grant citizenship or residency for their Palestinian spouses.
In Abu Muammar's case, the rejection came within 24 hours of filing his application, making his wife Miriam an illegal alien in Israel, unable to obtain social benefits or treatment at a medical clinic for her current bout of influenza.
The new law killed all hope of ever leading a normal life for hundreds of families who either live in fear the Palestinian spouse will be deported, or rarely see each other because one of the couple is barred from entering Israel.
"Today I lost hope," Abu Muammar said. "We are hiding from the police all the time. This is what we've been doing and this is probably what we will have to continue to do."
The law is valid for a year but it includes a provision allowing parliament to automatically renew it annually.
Human rights groups plan to petition the Supreme Court to overturn the law, which they contend violates Israel's unofficial constitution protecting "human dignity and liberty" and a gamut of international conventions the country has signed.
The law was proposed after a Palestinian from the West Bank killed 15 people by blowing himself up at a restaurant in the northern port city of Haifa last year.
The bomber was able to pass through military roadblocks separating Israel from the West Bank because he carried a blue Israeli identity card and drove a car with Israeli licence plates -- both issued because his mother was an Israeli Arab.
"We are at war," said Yuri Stern, from the right-wing National Union party during a fiery debate in parliament.
Orna Kohn, a lawyer from the Arab rights organisation Adalah, said the legislation will force husbands and wives to live apart and separate children from their parents. "It will tear families apart," Kohn said. Foreigners married to Israelis are still eligible for residency and citizenship. The law only applies to Palestinians.
Israeli-Arabs say the law is another sign of deep-seated discrimination towards the country's Arab minority which make up almost one-fifth of the population.
© Hindustan Times Ltd. 2003. Reproduction in any form is prohibited without prior permission