Ministry of Interior has almost entirely stopped approving applications for citizenship submitted by East Jerusalem Palestinians
BBH Law submitted a petition to the Ministry of Interior’s Population and Immigration Authority demanding that the Ministry process applications for Israeli citizenship also for East Jerusalem Palestinians within a fixed time frame and develop a written policy on the matter available to the public. The vast majority of East Jerusalem Palestinians are not Israeli citizens but rather holders of permanent residency – a status generally granted to immigrants and one that is relatively easy for the government to revoke. In the late 2000s, the East Jerusalem Branch of the Ministry of Interior initiated a campaign of mass revocations. In an effort [...]
Gazan businessmen in crisis – Israel’s Civil Administration confiscates entry permits into Israel in record numbers
The second half of 2016 witnessed a new and worrisome phenomenon of mass revocation of entry permits held by Palestinian merchants from Gaza, also known as BMG permits ("Business Man Gaza" permits) or BMC permits. Haaretz and Al-Monitor reported that between the months of May – October 2016, Israel revoked 1,700 entry permits into Israel for Gazan businessmen, an alarmingly high percentage of the total BMG permits issued. It is estimated that only 3,700 businessmen from Gaza received entry permits into Israel over the past few years. In many instances, merchants only learned of the revocation upon arriving at the [...]
Jordan Valley Regulation
A coalition of human rights organizations – Kav LaOved - Workers’ Hotline, Adalah, and the Association for Civil Rights in Israel (ACRI) - filed a petition to the Israeli Supreme Court demanding the cancellation of the "Jordan Valley Regulation," published by the Israeli Justice Ministry on 2 August 2016. The regulation obligates labor court judges to order non-Israeli residents, such as migrant laborers and asylum seekers in Israel , to deposit a financial guarantee at the commencement of a lawsuit against Israeli employers, that is intended to cover the employer's court costs. The regulation would affect most migrant laborers and asylum seekers [...]
A losing battle in Israel’s High Court of Justice
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. [...]
Husband of international aid worker denied tourist visa (B/2 visa) in violation of Ministry of Interior’s own policies
M. and his wife are foreign nationals working in the field of humanitarian assistance, M's appeal for a tourist visa (B/2 visa) for visiting his wife, was denied by the Israeli Ministry of Interior. In August 2014, when M.'s wife was holding a temporary position in a humanitarian organization in the West Bank, M. reached the Allenby Bridge and requested entry to visit his wife. To his great surprise, his entry was denied. At the time, M. was working in Afghanistan for the same humanitarian organization as his wife. The Population and Immigration Authority officials at the border accused him of [...]
