In the past several months, Israel’s Civil Administration has made it increasingly difficult for foreign spouses of Palestinians to receive long-term visas that allow them to legally reside with their spouses and children in the West Bank. In many instances, they face an absolute bar from renewing their visas. In such cases, the foreign spouse is forced to immediately leave the West Bank, even if his or her departure means an indefinite separation from spouse and children and an uprooting from the only home s/he knows.
BBH Law is currently representing a number of spouses affected by this new, draconian policy. In certain cases, Israel ultimately approves visa requests, but only on condition that the couple submit a separate application for “family unification” (i.e., an application to receive a Palestinian ID). Yet, Israel’s own declared policy is that the state will only accept applications for “family unification” in extreme humanitarian cases and that the unification of husband and wife is not sufficiently humanitarian. BBH Law has argued that the Civil Administration’s new policy amounts to nothing less than a silent deportation. Faced with separation of mother from husband and child, the new policy forces Palestinian spouses and children to either live apart from their loved ones or abandon their life in the West Bank so that the family can live together.
To learn more about the Civil Administration’s new policy, read Amira Hass’ expose on the subject: “Israel Makes It Increasingly Difficult for Palestinians’ Foreign Spouses to Stay in West Bank.”
http://www.haaretz.com/middle-east-news/palestinians/.premium-1.811301