I. United Nations Human Rights Treaty Bodies
UN Human Rights Committee (monitors States’ Parties compliance with the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, ratified by Israel in 1991)
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21. The Committee is concerned about Israel's temporary suspension order of May 2002, enacted into law as the Nationality and Entry into Israel Law (Temporary Order) on 31 July 2003, which suspends, for a renewable one-year period, the possibility of family reunification, subject to limited and subjective exceptions especially in the cases of marriages between an Israeli citizen and a person residing in the West Bank and in Gaza. The Committee notes with concern that the suspension order of May 2002 has already adversely affected thousands of families and marriages.
The State party should revoke the Nationality and Entry into Israel Law (Temporary Order) of 31 July 2003, which raises serious issues under articles 17, 23 and 26 of the Covenant. The State party should reconsider its policy with a view to facilitating family reunification of all citizens and permanent residents. It should provide detailed statistics on this issue, covering the period since the examination of the initial report.
UN Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination (monitors States’ Parties compliance with the International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination, ratified by Israel in 1979)
The Committee is concerned about Israel’s Temporary Suspension Order of May 2002 enacted into law as the Nationality and Entry into Israel Law (Temporary Order) on 31 July 2003, which suspends, for a renewable one-year period, the possibility of family reunification, subject to limited and discretionary exceptions, in the cases of marriages between an Israeli citizen and a person residing in the West Bank or Gaza. The Committee notes with concern that the Suspension Order of May 2002 has already adversely affected many families and marriages. The Nationality and Entry into Israel Law (Temporary Order) on 31 July 2003 raises serious issues under the International Convention on the Elimination of all Forms of Racial Discrimination. The State party should revoke this law, and reconsider its policy with a view to facilitating family unification on a non-discriminatory basis. It should provide detailed information on this issue in its next periodic report.
The Committee recalls that in its decision 1 (63), it called for the revocation of Israel’s Temporary Suspension Order of May 2002, enacted into law as the Nationality and Entry into Israel Law (Temporary Order) on 31 July 2003, which suspended, for a renewable one-year period, the possibility of family reunification, subject to limited and discretionary exceptions, in cases of marriage between an Israeli citizen and a person residing in the West Bank or Gaza. The Committee noted with concern that the Suspension Order of May 2002 had already adversely affected many families and marriages, and that the Nationality and Entry into Israel Law (Temporary Order) of 31 July 2003 raised serious issues under the International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination.
Bearing in mind the renewal for a period of six months until 31 December 2004 of the Temporary Suspension Order of May 2002, enacted into law as the Nationality and Entry into Israel Law (Temporary Order) on 31 July 2003, in disregard of the Committee’s request for revocation, the Committee reiterates this request;
UN Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women (monitors States’ Parties compliance with the Convention on the Elimination of all Forms of Discrimination Against Women, ratified by Israel in 1991)
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33. The Committee is concerned about the State party’s temporary suspension order of May 2002, enacted into law as the Nationality and Entry into Israel Law (Temporary Order) of 31 July 2003, which suspends the possibility, subject to limited and subjective exceptions, of family reunification, especially in cases of marriages between an Israeli citizen and a person residing in the Occupied Territories. The Committee notes with concern that the suspension order, which has currently been extended through August 2005, has already adversely affected the marriages and family life of Israeli Arab women citizens and Palestinian women from the Occupied Territories.
34. The Committee calls on the State party to balance its security interests with the human rights of persons affected by such policies, and to reconsider them with a view to facilitating family reunification of all citizens and permanent residents. It calls on the State party to bring the Nationality and Entry into Israel law (Temporary Order) of 31 July 2003 into line with articles 9 and 16 of the Convention. It requests the State party to provide, in its next periodic report, detailed statistical information and analysis of the short- and long-term impact of this Order on affected women.
II. The European Parliament
The European Parliament,
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40. Condemns the approval by the Knesset of a draft law prohibiting Palestinians from obtaining Israeli citizenship by marriage; calls on the Israeli government not to ratify or apply this discriminatory and racist law.
III. International Human Rights Organizations
منظمة العفو الدولية ((Amnesty International
إن القرار الذي أصدرته محكمة العدل العليا الإسرائيلية في 14 مايو/أيار والقاضي بتأييد قانون يحرم العائلات من حقوقها صراحة على أساس الإثنية أو الأصل القومي يشكل خطوة أخرى على طريق ترسيخ التمييز العنصري في إسرائيل في الأنظمة والأعراف. […]وقد صوَّت خمسة من أصل أحد عشر قاضياً في المحكمة العليا بتوا في هذا القانون في 14 مايو/أيار، بمن فيهم رئيس المحكمة ضد تأييد القرار، معترفين بأنه ينتهك حقوق الإنسان. وصرح رئيس المحكمة أهارون باراك بأن القانون ينتهك حق العرب الإسرائيليين في المساواة. […]وتكرر منظمة العفو الدولية دعوتها إلى الحكومة الإسرائيلية وأعضاء الكنيست لإلغاء هذا القانون وضمان تقيد أية خطوت تتخذ لمعالجة بواعث القلق الأمنية، ومن ضمنها أية تعديلات على قانون الجنسية، بالقانون الدولي لحقوق الإنسان – لاسيما مبدأ عدم التمييز.
The International Commission of Jurists
The International Commission of Jurists (ICJ) today called on the Knesset to repeal a law that prevents Palestinians from the Occupied Territories being united with their Israeli spouses after a small majority of judges (6-5) upheld the law on 14 May. […] This law cuts through families solely because the husband or wife comes from the Occupied Territories. Such discrimination violates Israel’s international human rights obligations.
The International Federation for Human Rights (FIDH)
FIDH and its member organizations in Israel, Adalah, the Association for Civil Rights in Israel (ACRI) and B’tselem express their dismay at the dismissal of a petition presented by several organizations, lawyers and Israeli citizens demanding the annulment of the Nationality and Entry into Israel Law (Temporary Order) 5763-2003, which bans family reunification for Israeli married with Palestinian OPT residents. […] FIDH, ACRI, Adalah and B’tselem, therefore, renew their call to the Israeli authorities to annul the Law and especially its discriminatory and racist provisions, as well as to uphold their constitutional and international obligations towards the safeguard of right to family, regardless of nationality.
منظمة هيومان رايتس ووتش ((Human Rights Watch
بيان للصحافة, إسرائيل: يعتبر قرار توحيد الأسر تمييزيا, 19 مايو/أيار 2006
قالت منظمة هيومن رايتس ووتش اليوم، إن قرار المحكمة الإسرائيلية العليا بتأييد قانون يمنع المواطنين الإسرائيليين وأزوجاهم الفلسطينيين المقيمين في الأراضي الفلسطينية المحتلة من العيش سويا في إسرائيل يعتبر تمييزا غير مشروع لا يمكن تبريره بالمصالح الأمنية للبلد. […]قرار المحكمة العليا بتأييد هذا القانون يستهدف بشكل غير عادل المواطنين الإسرائيليين ذوي أصول فلسطينية. [...]إن هذا القرار يقوض حقوق آلاف الإسرائيليين من العيش سويا مع أسرهم، وحقوق بعض الأطفال الإسرائيليين من العيش مع أبويهم