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Adalah’s News

29 November 2022

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International Day of Solidarity with the Palestinian People   

Generations of divided Palestinian families

Today Adalah marks the International Day of Solidarity with the Palestinian People, observed annually by people around the world to show their support for and to stand together with the Palestinian people in their fight for freedom, justice and dignity. This year, Adalah wishes to highlight one the grave and continuing consequences of UN Resolution 181 (The Partition Plan) for all Palestinians - the separation of Palestinian families in different parts of historical Palestine and in the diaspora for multiple generations.
See photo gallery on Adalah's Instagram page.
In 2003, the Israeli Knesset enacted the Citizenship and Entry into Israel Law, also known as the “ban on family unification law”. For the first time, this “temporary order”, which was renewed annually for almost 20 years, totally barred thousands of Palestinian residents of the West Bank and Gaza from living together with their spouses, Palestinian citizens of Israel, in Israel solely based on their national belonging. It is among the most racist laws in Israel and has no parallel in any democratic state.

Generations forced to live apart



After decades, my parents – one a resident of Israel and one from the West Bank – are still seeking family unification. Growing up with them was very difficult, especially during the second Intifada. We used to visit my grandparents in the West Bank once every 6 months, and the road was full of danger. Sometimes, we had an arduous journey, walking in the mountains in order to avoid checkpoints and to hide from the soldiers. Now my wife and I go through similar hardships, which exist in the small details of our daily life."


Hassan Jaddeh, two generations: he and his wife, and his parents continue to undergo a harsh and prolonged process of family unification

Adalah has challenged this racist law in three different petitions to the Israeli Supreme Court. Our latest petition, submitted in March 2022 on behalf of three Palestinian families, challenges the new version of the law. This new legislation explicitly states the underlying logic of previous versions of the law: that the ban on Palestinian family unification is intended to guarantee a Jewish demographic majority in the state.

Read the introduction of the petition 
Read: Israeli Citizenship Laws are Unconstitutional (2012)

 
A panel of three justices of the Supreme Court
will hold a hearing on Adalah’s petition and 8 others on 1 December 2022.
The hearing will be broadcast live on TV.

Follow Adalah's Social Media accounts for updates on the case  
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My husband and I are seeking family unification for 10 years. I'm almost completely dependent on him to help us receive services, and even in proving my biological relationship to my own children. One time I had to wait for him at the entrance to a hospital in Jerusalem so that he would show them his identity card, in order to prove that it was our son who was being treated in the pediatrics' department at the hospital, and to allow me to visit him."


Jihad Hmeid, a petitioner in Adalah's 2022 case
WATCH: Dr. Morad El-Sana, one of the first petitioners against the 2003 law, speaks at this webinar hosted by the Foundation for Middle East Peace (FMEP). Also featuring Adalah’s General Director, Dr. Hassan Jabareen, MK Aida Touma-Sliman and Lara Friedman, President of the FMEP- 26 April 2022.
UN human rights treaty bodies have repeatedly called on Israel to revoke or substantially amend the law, finding that it violates the conventions, all of which have been ratified by Israel. In one of the strongest statements to date, in March 2022, a report by the former UN Special Rapporteur on the OPT, Professor Michael Lynk, identified the ban on Palestinian family unification as an inhumane act by Israel, which is prohibited by the Apartheid Convention and the Rome Statute.

STAND IN SOLIDARITY WITH PALESTINIAN FAMILIES
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Adalah: The Legal Center for Arab Minority Rights in Israel · 94 Yaffa Street · PO Box 8921 · Haifa 31090 · Israel