Israel seeks to renew law that excludes Palestinian spouses

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JERUSALEM (AP) – Israel’s parliament is due to vote Monday on whether to renew a temporary law first enacted in 2003 that prohibits Arab citizens of Israel from extending citizenship or even residency to spouses in the occupied West Bank and Gaza.

Critics, including many left-wing and Arab lawmakers, say it is a racist measure aimed at restraining the growth of Israel’s Arab minority, while supporters say it is necessary for security purposes and to preserve the Jewish character of Israel.

The law creates a range of hardships for Palestinian families that span the war-traced and largely invisible borders separating Israel from East Jerusalem, the West Bank and Gaza, territories it seized in the war in Israel. 1967 and that the Palestinians want for a future state.

The dominant right-wing parties in Israel strongly support the law, and it has been renewed every year since its enactment. But Israel’s new government includes opponents of the measure, and the right-wing opposition led by former Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu – in an attempt to embarrass the government – warned it would not provide the necessary votes to renew the law.

The vote is expected Monday evening.

The Citizenship and Entry into Israel Law was enacted as a temporary measure in 2003, at the height of the Second Intifada, or uprising, when Palestinians launched dozens of deadly attacks inside Israel. Supporters said Palestinians in the occupied West Bank and Gaza were susceptible to being recruited by armed groups and that security checks alone were insufficient.

The law was renewed even after the uprising ended in 2005 and the number of attacks fell. Today, Israel allows more than 100,000 Palestinian workers from the West Bank to enter regularly.

“It was adopted in the middle of the Intifada, and now we are in a very different time,” said Yuval Shany, legal expert at the Israel Institute of Democracy. Not only are attacks much rarer, but Israel has dramatically improved its technological capabilities to monitor Palestinians entering, he said. “I don’t think the security argument is very strong right now.”

Due to the law, Arab citizens have little or no opportunity to bring spouses from the West Bank and Gaza to Israel. The policy affects thousands of families.

Male spouses over 35 and female spouses over 25, as well as certain humanitarian cases, can apply for the equivalent of a tourist card, which must be renewed regularly. Holders of these licenses are not eligible for driver’s licenses, public health insurance and most forms of employment. Palestinian wives in Gaza have been banned completely since the militant group Hamas took power there in 2007.

The law does not apply to the approximately 500,000 Jewish settlers who live in the West Bank and who have full Israeli citizenship. Under Israeli law of return, Jews who come to Israel from anywhere in the world are eligible for citizenship.

Israel’s Arab minority, which represents 20% of the population, has close family ties with Palestinians in the West Bank and Gaza Strip and largely identifies with their cause. Arab citizens see the law as one of the many forms of discrimination they face in a country that is legally defined as a Jewish nation state.

“This law considers every Palestinian as an enemy and a threat, just because of their ethnicity and nationality,” said Sawsan Zaher, an attorney for Adalah, an Arab rights group that challenged the law in front of them. law courts. very racist and very dangerous.

Palestinians who cannot obtain permits but try to live with their spouse inside Israel risk deportation. Couples who move to the West Bank live under Israeli military occupation. If their children were born in the West Bank, they would be subject to the same law prohibiting spouses from entering Israel, although there is an exception for minors.

The citizenship law also applies to Jewish Israelis who marry Palestinians in the territories, but such unions are extremely rare.

Human Rights Watch cited the law as an example of the widespread discrimination Palestinians face – both inside Israel and in the territories it controls – in a report released earlier this year that declared that such practices is equivalent to apartheid.

Israel rejects such allegations and asserts that Jewish and Arab citizens have equal rights. He says a controversial 2018 law, which defines Israel as the nation-state of the Jewish people, simply recognizes the character of the country and does not violate individual rights.

Arab citizens have the right to vote and the new government includes for the first time an Arab faction opposed to the citizenship law.

But even as Defense Minister Benny Gantz, a political centrist, recently urged the opposition to support the law for security reasons, he also raised demographic concerns.

“This law is essential to safeguard the security and the Jewish and democratic character of the country, and security considerations must come before all political considerations,” Gantz said in a statement. “Even in politically difficult times, we put Israel first. “

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