On September 13, 2022, our law firm applied, on behalf of Hamoked human rights organization, to the Minister of Defense, the Coordinator of Government Activities in the Territories (COGAT), and the Military’s Legal Advisor of the West Bank demanding they revise the “Procedure for Entry and Residence of Foreigners in the Judea and Samaria Area” and postpone its entry into effect until they make such revisions and publish it also in Arabic.
The procedure would harm thousands of families where one of the spouses is a foreign national. It would disrupt the routine functioning of education and academic institutions, and prevent many foreign passport holders from working, volunteering or studying in the oPt, damaging the local economy and society. All this, without any legal basis or reasonable grounds, and contrary to Israel’s obligation to act for the benefit of the protected population living under occupation.