Divided Loyalties: High Court Upholds ‘mixed marriage’ ban

Israel’s High Court of Justice upheld a previous decision concerning the ‘Citizenship and Entry Law’ in which a Palestinian spouse of an Israeli citizen is not permitted to live inside Israel’s ‘green line’. After a very narrow vote of 6-5, the Justice’s decision continues to uphold the law, which has separated many families in which a Palestinian husband or wife, married to a person possessing Israeli citizenship, will have to continue to maintain permanent residence beyond Israel’s border.

According to the Israel Justice Minister Haim Ramon, he plans to use this law toward adopting the criteria pertaining to what is required for obtaining Israeli citizenship.

Social activist groups, as well foreign and even local press representatives declared the decision a “dark day for Israeli justice” and compared the decision to those instigated by South Africa’s former Apartheid regime. The law, effective for one year, and subject to judicial review, noted especially that the previous lifting of a ban on family reunification inside of Israel in regards to Palestinian men under the age of 35, and women under 25 was no longer in effect. Groups that included the Association for Civil Rights in Israel, and ADALAH, a group which is considered the legal center for protecting Arab minority rights, have now petitioned the High Court to try to modify or even repeal this legislation. An Israeli Arab attorney, Murad al-Sana, who is married to a Palestinian woman, pointed out that his own family and many others like him will be adversely affected by this law.

At least 26 Palestinians granted Israeli identity cards had actually been terrorists involved in terror attacks, Israel’s chief prosecuting attorney, Yochi Gnessin, had noted on a previous court hearing in February. It was on this basis that the previous partial lifting of the ban had taken place to allow some Palestinian spouses to apply to permanent residency, in a process that takes nearly 4 and a half years to complete.

With literally thousands of so-called illegal foreign residents living now in Israel, the upholding of this law will affect them as well, as scores of them have married Israeli citizens and permanent residents. While the children of these marriages can be considered as ‘legal’ Israelis, the foreign parent is not and can be subject to possible deportation. Regarding family reunification between Israelis and Palestinians, the upheld law will now make their situation even more difficult.

The law, being tailored in respect to countries considered as hostile towards Israel, particularly takes into account the reality of a Hamas led government within the P.A.; and thus regards all Palestinian citizens as part of that entity. An Israeli Attorney for the ADALAH organization, Ora Kohn, stated that the ruling results in “grave damage to the human rights of thousands of people”.

Whatever the final outcome will be, it is obvious that the lives of both Israelis and Palestinians will now become even more separated in the coming days.

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