17/02/2006
stampa
invia
stampainvia
The law that denies Israeli citizenship to mixed couples is once again the subject of discussion
“Israeli citizens who want to marry Palestinians must go and live in Jenin”,
judge Michel Cheshin of the Israel High Court announced on Tuesday during discussions
about an amendment to Nationality laws.
Separated at home. The Court was discussing the law concerning the granting of Israeli citizenship,
and the amendment in question, which was first proposed in 2003 by the Adalah
Legal Centre for Arab Minority rights in Israel, is designed to cancel the temporary
law that prohibits the reunification of mixed Israeli-Palestinian families in
the Tel Aviv area. According to Sarah Whitson of Human Rights Watch, “Thousands
of mixed- marriage couples are forced to live apart, while an equally important
problem is represented by their children who are forbidden to live with both parents”.
The temporary decree on citizenship has been in force since July 2003, while requests
for permission to reunite married couples have been frozen since 2002. Data supplied
by Haaretz, a daily newspaper, show that at the end of 2004 the law affected between
16 and 21 thousand couples, many of whom are forced to choose between either leaving
the country if they want to live together or moving to the Occupied Territories.
Israeli citizens and Palestinian citizens from East Jerusalem who get married
in Cisjordan run the risk of losing their right to residency in Israel, while
it is illegal for an Arab who marries an Israeli to move to Israel.
Collective punishment. Cheshin justified his decision by explaining that “The Palestinian Authority
is an enemy government, an government that intends to destroy our state and has
no intention of recognising Israel”. The judge tried to focus attention on the
risks the Israeli state would run if it guaranteed citizenship to people who were
potentially dangerous, confirming the impression that the overwhelming victory
of Hamas in January’s elections has resulted in a deterioration of the image in
Israel of Palestinians. “Just listen to the daily statements made by Hamas”, judge
Cheshin continued. “It was the Palestinians who voted for Hamas, so why should
we allow people who could carry out terrorist attacks to enter? We’re at war.
Romanticism is touching, but this is a matter of life and death, and the right
to life has priority”. The law was already modified in 2005 when an exception
was introduced for women over 25 years of age and men over 35, but these conditions
are in fact rather limited since according to statistics from the United Nations
the average age of women in the Palestinian Occupied Territories who get married
is 21 while it’s 25 for men. In addition, this exception is only applied when
the Arab partner is not related to any person suspected of terrorist activities.
The right to love? The president of the jury, Aharon Barak, proposed looking for options that were
less detrimental to human rights, such as a different type of identity card for
Israeli who acquire citizenship through marriage. But it’s more likely that the
temporary document will simply be extended. The people who made the proposal
have pointed out that the law racially discriminates against marriages between
Israelis and Palestinians while the same is not true for any other nationalities,
and as the amendment says: “Personal liberty is the basis of human rights”. This
law denies Palestinians the “right to love and be loved by a partner, the right
to set up home and live together without institutional obstacles”.
Separated at home. The Court was discussing the law concerning the granting of Israeli citizenship,
and the amendment in question, which was first proposed in 2003 by the Adalah
Legal Centre for Arab Minority rights in Israel, is designed to cancel the temporary
law that prohibits the reunification of mixed Israeli-Palestinian families in
the Tel Aviv area. According to Sarah Whitson of Human Rights Watch, “Thousands
of mixed- marriage couples are forced to live apart, while an equally important
problem is represented by their children who are forbidden to live with both parents”.
The temporary decree on citizenship has been in force since July 2003, while requests
for permission to reunite married couples have been frozen since 2002. Data supplied
by Haaretz, a daily newspaper, show that at the end of 2004 the law affected between
16 and 21 thousand couples, many of whom are forced to choose between either leaving
the country if they want to live together or moving to the Occupied Territories.
Israeli citizens and Palestinian citizens from East Jerusalem who get married
in Cisjordan run the risk of losing their right to residency in Israel, while
it is illegal for an Arab who marries an Israeli to move to Israel.Collective punishment. Cheshin justified his decision by explaining that “The Palestinian Authority
is an enemy government, an government that intends to destroy our state and has
no intention of recognising Israel”. The judge tried to focus attention on the
risks the Israeli state would run if it guaranteed citizenship to people who were
potentially dangerous, confirming the impression that the overwhelming victory
of Hamas in January’s elections has resulted in a deterioration of the image in
Israel of Palestinians. “Just listen to the daily statements made by Hamas”, judge
Cheshin continued. “It was the Palestinians who voted for Hamas, so why should
we allow people who could carry out terrorist attacks to enter? We’re at war.
Romanticism is touching, but this is a matter of life and death, and the right
to life has priority”. The law was already modified in 2005 when an exception
was introduced for women over 25 years of age and men over 35, but these conditions
are in fact rather limited since according to statistics from the United Nations
the average age of women in the Palestinian Occupied Territories who get married
is 21 while it’s 25 for men. In addition, this exception is only applied when
the Arab partner is not related to any person suspected of terrorist activities.
The right to love? The president of the jury, Aharon Barak, proposed looking for options that were
less detrimental to human rights, such as a different type of identity card for
Israeli who acquire citizenship through marriage. But it’s more likely that the
temporary document will simply be extended. The people who made the proposal
have pointed out that the law racially discriminates against marriages between
Israelis and Palestinians while the same is not true for any other nationalities,
and as the amendment says: “Personal liberty is the basis of human rights”. This
law denies Palestinians the “right to love and be loved by a partner, the right
to set up home and live together without institutional obstacles”.Naoki Tomasini
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