Article74 Magazine

- In December 1994, the Palestinian authorities in Gaza submitted 2,240 applications for family reunification to the Israeli authorities. These will serve as a test case for Israeli policy regarding family reunification in the autonomous areas. [Source: Walid Zaqut, Palestinian-Israeli Liaison Committee for Civil Affairs, Gaza] 

- Gaza Students Still Denied Access to West Bank Universities: 600 of the 856 Gaza students at West Bank universities are still denied entry permits to Israel. On December 13, 1994, Israel declared that: ”In spite of the existing closure, the Prime Minister and the Minister of Defense, Mr. Yitzhak Rabin, has recently allowed 200 students from Gaza to study at Bir-Zeit University in the region of Judea and Samaria subject to the following conditions: 
a) The Palestinian Authority will transfer to the Israeli authorities a list of 200 students studying at Bir-Zeit University. 
b) The list will be checked for security purposes. 
c) The students will undertake before the Palestinian Authority to refrain from acts of terror and to support the peace process. 
d) Further entry of students to Judea and Samaria is conditioned by the results that might arise from the entry of the present 200” (letter by Israeli Ministry of Defense to Al Haq). 

- Israel Issues Special Transit Passes to Palestinian VIPs: 12 high-ranking PNA officials have been issued special transit passes by the Israeli Civil Administration headquarters in Bet El. These passes permit the holders to cross Israeli checkpoints on the green line and border crossings to Egypt and Jordan without being subject to Israeli security checks. They also allow the holder to carry a personal weapon. Recently the PNA submitted a request to grant these transit passes to tens of additional personnel, mainly deputy ministers and high-ranking police officers (Kol Israel Radio, Al-Nahar, 21/12/94). 

- Palestinian Border Police Declare Strike at the Allenby Bridge to Jordan: On Thursday, December 15, the Israeli authorities refused to allow a Palestinian police unit access to the Palestinian-designated border crossing at the Allenby bridge. The unit was composed of newly recruited police personnel, all of them local residents of the West Bank. Israel conditioned their work at the bridge on the submission of additional personal data. Consequently, the unit went on strike to protest Israeli interference in Palestinian affairs. The strike ended after one day when Nabil Sha’th declared that the conflict would be resolved at a higher level and that the requested information would be transferred to the Israeli side (Al-Quds, Al-Nahar, 16/12/94). 

- Palestinian Center for Statistics Reveals New Demographic Data: Based on recent PCS sample studies and surveys, the total number of Palestinian residents in the 1967 occupied territories is 2,488,000 (East Jerusalem: 178,000; Gaza Strip: 842,000). Among them are 250,000 Palestinians who have residency rights in the 1967 occupied territories, but are currently staying abroad. 
The 1994 data issued by the Israeli Statistical Bureau are: West Bank (1.1 mil.), Gaza Strip (750,000), and East Jerusalem (165,000) - a total of 2,015,000.