Article74 Magazine

A meeting of representatives of ACRI, Hotline, and the Quakers Legal Service with the authorities helped to clarify several technical problems linked to the implementation of new policies regarding family reunification: 

- ALL SPOUSES and MINOR CHILDREN of West Bank/Gaza Strip residents who entered the country on visit permits issued between 1990 and 31/8/1993 are eligible for six-month renewable visit permits and for family reunification. 

- Persons belonging to the above category have to be issued six-month visit permits immediately (usually they are issued a one-month permit at first, and only after its expiry they are issued the six-month permit - a practice which compels additional expenses for the applicants). 

- Relatives who are NOT SPOUSES who entered between 1990 and 31/8/1993 are entitled to apply for family reunification without leaving the country; they should be issued six-month renewable visit permits as long as their application for family reunification is pending. 

- All persons covered by the above policies who in the past stayed in the country illegally, because they were not eligible for permits, do not have to pay a fine/back fee for this period. 

- All persons covered by these policies who applied for family reunification in the past and never received an answer, do not have to pay for their new application. 

Urgent Problems Remain Unsolved 

- Although the Israeli authorities promised, in the framework of the negotiations, to clarify the criteria of what is considered a “humanitarian case” eligible for family reunification, human rights organizations and the Palestinian delegation have not received any further information. 

- The Israeli authorities have reconfirmed that eligibility for family reunification is conditioned by the applicant’s presence in the country (“center of life condition”). This condition creates new cases of family reunification: e.g. a family living in Jordan cannot apply for family reunification, unless the resident spouse leaves the family and comes to the Occupied Territories in order to submit his application. The rest of the family has to stay abroad until they receive an answer, and no visit permits are issued for them during this period. Since applications may be pending for more than a year, this creates severe hardship for the families. 

- Persons who entered the country after 31/8/1993 and have since then remained here are not protected by any agreement with the authorities. The majority of the local human rights institutions and their lawyers feel that legal efforts have reached a dead end, i.e. the authorities will not be ready for an additional compromise. Under the current regulations, these persons are eligible to apply for family reunification only if they leave the country. Their applications will be handled in the framework of the new, annual 2,000 quota. The Alternative Information Center decided to continue legal efforts to obtain protection for these persons. 

New Tasks 

The Coalition of local, Israeli and Palestinian human rights organizations decided to take up the issues of Jerusalem residency rights and “lost IDs” (IDs of Palestinian residents declared invalid due to absence abroad), and to make them part of its future agenda. A plan of action will be drafted in the next Coalition meeting on May 25, 1994.