| NGOs Initiate Coordination with PA-Ministry of Civil Affairs On 5 December 1995, representatives of the Israeli-Palestinian NGO Coalition for Family Reunification met with Ahmad Fares, General Director of the PA Committee for Civil Affairs. This Committee is both involved in the ongoing negotiations with Israel on the transfer of civil authorities and supervises the work of the Palestinian members in the Joint Liaison Committees. Mr. Fares confirmed that registration of persons without former resident status in the framework of the current Palestinian election registration will remain partial due to organizational shortcomings and that Israeli attempts to reduce even further the number of those eligible for resident status must be expected. He emphasized, however, that the current shortcomings will be corrected in the framework of the first real Palestinian census scheduled to be conducted prior to the issuing of the Palestinian ID cards one year following the signing of the Taba Agreement (September/October 1996).
Mr. Fares shared the concern for the urgency of better coordination in matters of Palestinian residency with the local human rights NGOs. Regular bi-weekly meetings, were established in order to discuss in depth all the residency issues under the Committee’s auspices, including issues of population registration, family reunification, ID cards revoked by Israel, deportees, etc. |
