The Law Offices of Bechor & Ben-Hillel recently petitioned the Civil Administration in the occupied Palestinian territories to grant permanent residency status to four children of a Palestinian West Bank mother. Their mother had been previously married to a Palestinian (who since passed away), and together they had five children.
According to the Oslo Accords, the Palestinian Authority may register all children in the Population Registry, whether born in the oPt or born abroad, if the children were under age 16 at the time of the application for registration and if at least one parent was Palestinian. However, in reality, Israel, and not the Palestinian Authority, is the authority with control over the Population Registry. In order for such children to be registered in Israel’s copy of the Population Registry and thus be issued identity cards, the Palestinian Authority must transfer the residency applications to Israel, and Israel must approve the applications.
In 2013, when all of our client’s children were under age 16, their mother successfully registered them in the PA Population Registry. However, Israel neglected to approve the applications, save for one of the children who did succeed in receiving an ID card.
In December 2020, the Law Offices of Bechor & Ben-Hillel petitioned the Civil Administration and demanded that all children be registered and receive ID cards. The four un-registered children had now turned ages 15-20 and had been living their whole lives without ID cards.
In March 2021, the Civil Administration informed our office that it had decided to register all the children as permanent residents of the oPt and recently received ID cards – for the first time.
The Law Offices of Bechor & Ben-Hillel handles many similar cases and can be contacted for consultations about receiving permanent residence.
