| WEST BANK - Update
According to the timetable
set by the DOP, Israel should have already handed its civil administration
offices over to the PNA. However, “there are no sacred dates” for the Rabin
government, and the civil administrations are not maintaining a low profile,
but rather continue to procedure new regulations which guarantee that Palestinian
families will remain separated in the future.
On August 9, 1994, the AIC’s
lawyer Atty Lea Tsemel was informed by the State Attorney that non-resident
spouses of West Bank residents who are not covered by previous agreements,
would no longer be issued visit permits, because “there is a strong reason
to suspect that they will not leave the country when their visit permits
expire”. Such spouses will be allowed to enter only after they are granted
family reunification. Since family reunification procedures still require
one year or more, it is unacceptable to oblige families remain apart during
this period. |