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”. 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). 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. 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). 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. |
index |