Article74 Magazine

 
One Year After Oslo - 2: 
The Situation of Palestinian Residency Rights in the Palestinian Administered Gaza Strip - A First Evaluation 

In late July 1994, the AIC project team for Palestinian Residency Rights and Family Reunification undertook a first fact-finding mission to the Gaza Strip. Less than three months after the take-over by the Palestinian Authority, the team’s aim was to learn about new procedures regarding family reunification and visit permits, to hear about major problems, and to gather information about current procedures at the Rafah border crossing to Egypt. Also, the team submitted recent documents and information relevant to the efficient handling of Palestinian residency problems to the Gaza NGOs and the PNA, who, due to the military closure, have been cut off from joint human rights efforts in Jerusalem. The AIC team met with representatives of independent NGOs: Atty Raji Sourani/Gaza Center for Human Rights and Law; Atty Sa’id Tawfish/UNRWA; Atty Bashir Abu Khattab/Lawyers for Human Rights in Khan Younis; and with an official representative of the Palestinian Interior Ministry, Tahsein Al-Shawwa, a member of the Palestinian Coordination Committee for Civil Affairs. Some of the July findings were updated during a phone conversation with Atty Sa’id Tawfish/UNRWA in September 1994. 

1. Major Problems 

Not residency issues in the narrow sense, but matters of economic survival and physical movement are the major concerns of Gaza residents in the first months of “autonomy”. 
Work permits to Israel have remained the major issue for Gazans and their new administration due to the devastating economic situation there. According to data gathered by the Gaza Center for Human Rights and Law, by July 24 only 9,000 of the official figure of 23,000 work permits were actually permits issued for work in Israel. The remaining 14,000 were distributed among people requesting entry to Israel for other purposes, e.g. medical treatment, business, educations, visits to relatives in the West Bank. The fact that prior to the April 1993 military closure, more than 100,000 Gazans used to make their income from employment in Israel can serve as an indicator of the massive unemployment and desperation which were the main causes for the June 1994 workers’ revolt at the Erez Checkpoint. 
Entry permits to Israel for 1,150 Gazan students in West Bank universities: As of July 31, the new Palestinian Coordinating Committee had obtained 900 permits, with the rest denied by the Israeli authorities. 
Visit permits to Gaza for the family members of the new Palestinian administration and police force who arrived from abroad: According to the agreement signed between Israel and the PLO, relatives of the new Palestinian government officials and employees have to submit visit applications to the Gaza Interior Ministry. By the end of July, the vast majority of these families had not been able to unite in their new homes in the Gaza Strip. The question of whether these special visit permits are included in the annual quota by the Israeli authorities, could not be answered by our sources. 

2. Family Reunification and Visit Permits 

were reportedly of less immediate concern while the new situation in Gaza was just getting  stabilized. The turmoil of the first 2 months of the Palestinian takeover, “people used to think that they will no longer need this kind of procedures, and only now they discover that they still do and they come back to see us for legal advice.” (Sa’id Tawfish/UNRWA). 
Following the May 17 partial Israeli withdrawal from the Gaza Strip, the new Palestinian National Authority decided to suspend family reunification, and no new applications have been accepted by the Palestinian Interior Ministry since then. The reason stated by the PNA is that political negotiations on the return of the 1967 refugees have priority, and then the problem will be solved, because, “two years after the implementation of the Gaza-Jericho Agreement, the 1967 refugees will have the right to return” (Tahsein Shawwa/CC). 
Applications for visit permits for relatives without Israeli-issued ID cards living abroad have remained a major issue under Palestinian self-rule in the Gaza Strip. 
Procedures for Obtaining Visit Permits: 
Every Gaza resident wishing to obtain a visit permit for a relative must submit an application to the Palestinian Interior Ministry located the compound of the former Israeli Civil/Military Administration located in Gaza City. The Palestinian Coordinating Committee for Civil Affairs, headed by Freij Al-Kheiri and composed of six members, takes these applications to the Erez Checkpoint to hand them over to their Israeli counterparts. Only applications for “first degree relatives” (mother, father, spouse, children) have a chance of approval, and Israeli answers reach the Palestinian Coordinating Committee from anywhere between 10 days to a month. 
One major positive change was reported by the Palestinian official: Gazans no longer have to pay fees for visit permit applications. Payment of approximately NIS 80 (US $ 26) has to be made upon receipt of the permit. A major drawback for the new Palestinian authority is, however, that in the absence of new Palestinian stamps, all this money is spent for the purchase of Israeli stamps (Tahsein Shawwa). 

3. Related Issues 

Registration of newborn children: Children born in Palestinian administered Gaza Strip receive a birth certificate from the Gaza Interior Ministry. As in the past, this certificate includes the child’s future ID number, which is a number issued by the Israeli authorities according to their old system of population registration. 
New ID cards: By mid September 1994, no new Palestinian ID cards had been issued to the population. New ID cards are being given only to the PNA staff from abroad (administration and police). These ID cards are issued by Bet El, bear a special Israeli identification number, and are green colored. 
Joint Israeli-Palestinian control of the Raffah border crossing to Egypt: The model of joint presence designed in the framework of the Cairo agreement has not been implemented by mid-September. 

4. New Problems for Human Rights and Legal Aid Work 

4.1 Absence of legal procedures for appealing refusals of visit/entry permits by the Israeli authorities: At present, refused applications are re-raised for discussion by the Palestinian Coordinating Committee at the weekly joint meetings with the Israelis, but if the latter insist that “security reasons” justify their negative decision, there is no legal redress. “The Palestinian Interior Ministry is only a messenger, the decision to approve or refuse a request is an Israeli decision. There are no legal procedures, lawyers can no longer argue directly with the Israeli State Attorney, and it is doubtful whether the Israeli High Court will accept to deal with cases originating from the self-rule areas in the future.” (Raji Sourani) 

4.2 Lack of coordination between the PNA and the independent human rights institutions: Perhaps due to heavy work load placed on the shoulders of the 6-member Palestinian Coordination Committee for Civil Affairs, no formal work meetings with the NGOs working for Palestinian residency rights have taken place. NGOs are not informed about policy decisions (e.g. suspension of family reunifications) and do not obtain information relevant for monitoring the implementation of Israeli policies (e.g. it is unknown if in the Gaza Strip, as in the West Bank, spouses of residents not covered by the November `92 agreement and its 1993 extension are denied visit permits). 

4.3 Due to the fact that applications for permits are no longer directly submitted to the Israeli authorities, but have to pass through the Palestinian interior ministry, people must wait longer before they receive answers. While in the past Gaza residents could obtain a short term entry permit to Israel within one day, they now have to wait at least 10 days. 

4.4 Both Lawyers for Human Rights and the Palestinian Interior Ministry report that the Israeli authorities have refused to issue ID cards to persons granted family reunification shortly prior to the May 17 Israeli withdrawal. 

4.5 The strong disproportion between the demand for permits and those actually granted by the Israelis, and the lack of transparency of procedures, rapidly led to a system of favoritism and bribery to an extent which was unknown before the Israeli partial withdrawal. 

4.6 In the absence of a political solution to the question of the collective return of the 1967 refugees, and given the official Palestinian decision to suspend individual family reunification, people are being advised by the Palestinian Interior Ministry to enter the country on a visit permit and to stay. Independent human rights organizations do not support this procedure and criticize the fact that even spouses eligible for 6 month permits cannot obtain them, because the Palestinian Interior Ministry does not accept applications for visit permit renewals. Human rights workers fear that the Palestinian authorities may be pressured by the Israeli side in the future to ensure that these “visitors” leave the country, and raise the need to develop a strategy to cope with such a future scenario. 

5. Summary 

The overall picture which evolved from this fact-finding mission is that of a very partial implementation of the articles on residency issues specified in the agreements between Israel and the PLO (see also ARTICLE 74/8-9). 
Annex II to the DOP provides for the “safe passage ... between the Gaza Strip and Jericho area”. No such passage has been provided by Israel to the residents of either area until now. Thus Gazans wishing to travel to other parts of Palestine are totally dependent upon obtaining entry permits to Israel. Since every single application is scrutinized by the Israeli authorities and the majority are refused, Gaza residents remain caged in even after four months of “autonomy”. 
The cessation of legal procedures for civil affairs which involve both the Palestinian and the Israeli authorities has placed an enormous work load on the Palestinian Coordination Committee for Civil Affairs, which has ultimately no influence on Israeli decisions. 
A major, and perhaps surprising, step by the PNA is the decision to totally suspend family reunification. While we agree that family reunification should not be used as a substitute for the collective return of the 1967 refugees (still to be negotiated in the quadri partite committee), we do not consider family reunification to be an obstacle for the development of adequate strategies towards the political negotiations. On the contrary, we regard family reunification as a complementary measure which can be used to obtain residency rights for all those persons who do not squeeze into the category/quota of those 1967 refugees eventually allowed to return. 

While in July, PNA officials still voiced optimism that time will help solve the most urgent problems, and that Palestinian residency rights would be re-installed in all of 1967 occupied Palestine within the coming two years, the scenario developed by several human rights activists was far more negative: Israel’s narrow interpretation of the DOP, the (still secret) Israeli quota for visit permits, and the official quota for family reunification will not allow for a full implementation of Palestinian residency rights in their homeland, and all major Israeli concessions will remain restricted to the areas of Gaza and Jericho.

 
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