Supreme Court: No Need to Decide on Constitutionality of Law Banning Family Unification Now

Today, 16 December 2004, the Supreme Court of Israel issued a decision dated 14 December 2004, on a petition submitted by Adalah on 3 August 2003, which challenges the constitutionality of the Nationality and Entry into Israel Law (Temporary Order) – 2003. The law bars Palestinians residents of the Occupied Palestinian Territories (OPTs) who are married to Israeli citizens from obtaining residency or citizenship status in Israel, thereby banning family unification. The law was passed by the Knesset as a temporary order on 31 July 2003 for one year, and extended on 21 July 2004 for a further six months.

The Attorney General informed the Court on 9 August 2004 that the government may seek to amend the law once again in February 2005, through widening the exceptions to the ban on family unification as stipulated under the law. Based on the Attorney General's representation, the Supreme Court ruled that it would wait to see the new amendments before deciding on Adalah's petition, as well as six additional petitions filed against the law to the Court by the Meretz political party; the Association for Civil Rights in Israel (ACRI); and private lawyers.

Responding to the decision, General Director of Adalah Attorney Hassan Jabareen stated that, “Today's Supreme Court decision violates the constitutional right to access to the courts. Although all of the petitions were submitted in a timely manner in 2003, and despite the fact that two hearings having been held before the Court, and that long summaries have been submitted by the parties involved, the Court has decided not to fulfill its duty to make its decision based on the merits of the case. In addition, today's decision by the Court may constitute a very dangerous precedent, according to which the Knesset will be able to legislate any racist law by merely stating that it is temporary in nature, in order to avoid the Court making decisions on the law's validity. In our opinion, this law is a racist and unconstitutional law, whether permanent or temporary. In the absence of Court decisions, laws such as this may gain legitimacy.”

The racist law violates the fundamental human rights to equality, liberty, privacy and family life; flagrantly discriminates on the basis of nationality and ethnic origin against Palestinian citizens of Israel – who are overwhelmingly the Israeli citizens who marry Palestinians from the OPTs – and against Palestinians from the OPTs; and is disproportionate to the alleged security reasons cited by the government to justify its enactment. Thousands of families have been affected by the law. Accordingly, United Nations human rights committees, the European Parliament, Israeli and international human rights organizations and legal academics have called on Israel to revoke the family unification ban: the UN Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination (CERD), the United Nations Human Rights Committee (UNHRC), the International Federation for Human Rights (FIDH), Amnesty International, and Human Rights Watch, for example, have all condemned the law.

H.C. 7052/03, Adalah, et. al. v. Minister of Interior, et. al. (case pending).

For more information, see Adalah's Special Report on Family Unification.