Attorney Yotam Ben-Hillel highlights the judiciary’s blatant discrimination against East Jerusalem Palestinians reflected in two recent decisions handed down by Israel’s Supreme Court.
The first ruling dealt with a Palestinian family reunification : the wife was an Israeli citizen and the husband was from the West Bank, and their application to live together in Jerusalem (“ Palestinian family unification ”) was processed by the Israeli Ministry of Interior’s office in East Jerusalem. Most East Jerusalem Palestinians hold only permanent residency status, given to them by Israel following the 1967 annexation, and refrain from applying for Israeli citizenship for obvious political reasons. In this case, as the wife was an Israeli citizen, the couple petitioned to have their application processed by the Ministry’s office in West Jerusalem, where all the other Israeli citizens (the vast majority Jewish) are serviced. When the Ministry refused their request, the couple petitioned to the High Court of Justice, arguing discrimination, given that services offered in the East Jerusalem office are far worse than those in the West side.
The High Court dismissed the petition, and accepted the State of Israel’s argument, according to which the Ministry of Interior services are given on a geographical basis – Jerusalemites who live in West Jerusalem go to the Ministry’s office in the Western area of the city and those living in East Jerusalem are required to go the office at the East. This argument is absurd, as more than 200,000 Israeli Jews live in East Jerusalem, but receive their services from the Western office.
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