Amidst the anticipation of thousands of torn-apart Palestinian families in the West Bank and the "Green Line", the racist Israeli Supreme Court denied a motion submitted by several human rights organizations to annul an amendment on the "Family Reunification" law, which bars Palestinians from being reunified with their spouses and families in Israel.
On Sunday, a 6-5 vote from the judges of the Supreme Court upheld the controversial law, denying an appeal submitted by the Association of Citizen Rights in Israel and the Adala Center to annul the amendment on the Israeli Citizenship Law, which bars Palestinians living in the occupied Palestinian territories and married to Israeli Arabs from obtaining a residency permit in Israel.
The Israeli Knesset had extended last summer the amendments to the law, but introduced minor adjustment it considered "for facilitation purposes".
However, the appeal submitted to the court asserted that these adjustments were "purely cosmetic, which did not undermine the racism of this law," especially because they apply solely to Palestinian spouses based on their nationality.
The appeal also mentioned that "these amendments do not allow offering a legal status within the Israeli state, but allows only the issuance of temporary permits, which are given in rare cases.
In addition, the amendments are considered discriminatory against the Palestinians on the bases of race, gender and age, and reduce the chance of obtaining even a temporary residency permit in Israel.
Furthermore, these amendments also included a new standard that bars relatives of "security involved" Palestinians from receiving these permits, amounting to collective punishment against reunion seekers depending on their family connections.
The aforementioned organizations have also submitted an appeal to the Supreme Court right after the approval of the law in the summer of 2003, and an expanded panel of 13 Israeli judges considered the appeal and later denied it in January, 2004.
During the final hearing that took place three months ago, several arguments between the judges emerged with regards to the submitted appeals.
Israeli authorities have stopped reunification procedures for Palestinians holding an Israeli ID cards who are married to Palestinians from the occupied territories, and also bars their children from being registered on his name or receiving an Israeli ID card as well.
GAZA, May 14, 2006 (IPC + Agencies) - -