| Petition for Disclosure of Demographic Data - NGOs Approaching a Success? In 1995, the Alternative Information Center, supported by ACRI and the Israeli Coalition for the Freedom of Information filed a High Court petition against the Israeli Ministry of Interior, demanding access to data on ID card confiscations and family reunification in East Jerusalem. In May 1996, the Ministry - in an apparent effort to convince the NGOs to withdraw their petition - released partial information concerning family reunification (see ARTICLE 74/16). At that time, the Ministry refused to release information on the matter of lost residency rights, arguing that, “it was impossible to conduct a statistical examination using our computers”. The petitioners were skeptical regarding this claim and decided to continue the legal procedures.
In a preliminary hearing of the case on 27 February 1997, the Ministry offered to cooperate in providing the requested data, if the petitioners are willing to cover expenses involved in the computer processing of the data (approximately US $1,000). This because, the Interior Ministry representative argued, data on lost residency cannot be accessed with the computer programs currently used by the Ministry. The petitioners accepted this offer in principle, however negotiations over the actual costs involved and to be paid are not yet completed. |
