Article74 Magazine

 
The Silent Migration to 1967 Occupied Palestine 

The uncompromising Israeli stand in the political negotiations on Palestinian repatriation (Multilateral Working Group on Refugee Affairs, Quadripartite Committee on the 1967 Displaced Persons) has prevented Palestinian political achievements since the 1991 Madrid Conference. However, Israel appears less reluctant to compromise on Palestinian immigration to the areas administered by the Palestinian Authority if this happens by means of bureaucratic procedures which are unspectacular and hidden from the media and Israeli public opinion. Thus Palestinian migration to the West Bank and the Gaza Strip since the 1993 Oslo Accords has been based on individual applications requiring Israeli approval and not on a right based on criteria defined in the negotiations. 

The Silent Migration (1994 - March 1996) 

1. Persons entering on visitor’s permit and staying after expiry                                15,000 
                                                                                                    West Bank: 10,000; Gaza: 5,000 

2. Persons granted residency via regular family reunification                                    12,000 
                                        West Bank: 2,400 cases/7,200 persons; Gaza: 1,600 cases/4,800 persons 

3. Spouses granted residency based on November 1992 High Court Agreement        3,000 
                                                                                                                         (1,000 cases) 

4. Persons granted residency based on the Election Agreement/Taba Agreement      3,000 

5. Palestinian Deportees permitted return 326 (978 incl. families) 
    88: collective return, Israeli gesture; April `93 - May `94 
  141: individual return as functionaries on PA lists; Sept. `93 - January `96 
   72: individual return via legal procedures; Sept `93 - January `96  
   25: return in the framework of the PNC, January - March `96 

6. PNC members permitted return                                                                            167 
                                                                                                                          (501 incl. families) 

7. Persons entering with PA “national numbers                                                       50,000-60,000 
                                                                                                                          (incl. families) 
                                                                                           (Police, military personnel and civilians) 

Total (1 - 7)                                                                                                        84,000 - 94,000 

Notes: This is an estimate, no survey is available. Figures do not include Israel-annexed East Jerusalem. 

ad 1. Persons overstaying their visitor’s permit in the Gaza Strip are mainly those who are not permitted re-entry to the country of their previous domicile (Libya, Kuwait); in the West Bank these are mainly persons who have failed to obtain family reunification and now, after the Israeli redeployment, are willing to take the risk of staying on “illegally”. Since Israel has been pressuring the PA to make these persons leave, the PA started a survey in order to establish accurate figures. [Source: Interior Ministry/Gaza, CAC-Gaza, CAC-Ramallah] 

ad 2. The Israeli quota for family reunification set prior to the Oslo Accords and valid since then is 2,000 cases (6,000 persons) annually; 1,200 of these are allocated for the West Bank, 800 for the Gaza Strip. Two thirds of those granted family reunification are non-resident spouses of Palestinian residents and their minor children. [Source: official Israeli data] 

ad 3. Based on a 1993 Israeli policy decision and the November 1992 High Court Agreement, spouses of Palestinian residents who entered the country between 1990 and 31 August 1992 are entitled to family reunification (2,000 cases/6,000 persons). It is estimated that approximately one half of this protected population has realized their residency right. An unknown number of these spouses are taking advantage of the Taba Agreement to legalize their status (see 4. below). 

ad 4. Annex 1/1/1g of the Taba Agreement provides that any individual able to document three years (if above the age of 40) or four years (if below the age of 40) of presence in the country was entitled to an ID card if s/he filed an application during the period of registration for the Palestinian elections. Due to the short application period and poor public information, only a minority of the estimated 20,000 - 30,000 eligible persons profited from the chance to legalize their status. Persons belonging to category 3 and 4 have actually been living in the country for years and are thus not immigrants. [Source: CAC-Ramallah] 

ad 5. Between 1967 and 1992, Israel deported 1,657 Palestinians from the 1967 occupied territories, among them temporarily 385 alleged Hamas and Jihad Islami activists (1992). Five of the 72 deportees returned via legal procedures prior to the Oslo Accords, one of them in the framework of an Israeli-Palestinian exchange agreement. [Source: Palestinian Deportees Committee/Amman] 

ad 6. In January 1996, the Israeli government declared that all 482 PNC members will be permitted to reside in the West Bank/Gaza Strip in order to participate in the vote over the change of the Palestinian Charter. By March 1996, 167 had been issued permits. 85 PNC members had returned earlier via the PA (see 7. below), 25 PNC members are deportees listed in point 5. above. [Source: Bilal Shakhsheer/PNC} 

ad 7. Based on an agreement between Israel and the PA, the latter can submit lists of names to the Israeli side. If approved, these persons are issued a “national number”. They must arrive at one of the border crossings within six months. Upon their arrival at the border, they are handed a form which contains their future ID number. They must present this form to the Coordination Office at their place of domicile in Palestine; the CO then submits a request for an ID card to the Israeli authorities. This procedure also applies to deportees and PNC members permitted to return via the PA (listed in 5 and 6). [CAC-Ramallah, Interior Ministry Gaza]

 
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