An Expanded Seven Justice Panel of the Israeli Supreme Court to Hear Citizenship Law Case on Sunday 15 March 2009 at 9 a.m.
Adalah Submits Expert Opinions by Specialists in International and Constitutional Law from the Open Society Justice Initiative, the UK and South Africa
The Legal Experts: The Citizenship Law, which Bans Family Unification, Violates the Right to Family Life, is Discriminatory and Unconstitutional
On Sunday 15 March 2009 at 9 a.m., an expanded seven-justice panel of the Israeli Supreme Court led by Chief Justice Dorit Beinish will hear Adalah's petition challenging the 2007 amendments to the Citizenship and Entry into Israel Law (Temporary Order) - 2003. Adalah Attorneys Hassan Jabareen and Sawsan Zaher prepared the petition and will represent before the court.
On 8 March 2009, Adalah submitted three expert opinions to the court written by specialists in international and constitutional law to supports its legal arguments in the case. The Citizenship Law, which was enacted in 2003, bans family unification between Palestinian citizens of Israel and Palestinians in the West Bank and Gaza Strip, in addition to any citizen from the following states: Lebanon, Syria, Iraq and Iran. Adalah filed the expert opinions in the run-up to the hearing.
One expert opinion was written by the Open Society Justice Initiative (OSJI), and discusses the legal and constitutional status enjoyed by the right to family life and the right to family unification under regional law in Europe, the Americas, and Africa. It further discusses the basic principle within these regions of prohibiting disproportionate violations of the freedom of the individual and banning discrimination against any individual on the basis of his or her ethnic or national belonging. In addition, the opinion examines the right of ethnic and national minorities to maintain familial, social and cultural contacts with other members of their people in other states.
Another expert opinion was provided by Dr. Helene Lambert and Prof. Rebecca Wallace, two specialists in family law and migration in the United Kingdom in particular, and in the European Union in general. The paper provides a discussion of the status of the right to family life and anti-discrimination regimes in the UK and EU. The final expert opinion was written by Attorney Anton Katz, a specialist in constitutional law in South Africa who provides legal representation on numerous seminal cases of restrictions on the right to family life before the Constitutional Court of South Africa.
The three expert opinions indicate that the Citizenship and Entry into Israel Law has no parallel law in any democratic state in the world, and that regional law in the Americas, Africa and the EU, along with the domestic legal systems in a large number of other states worldwide, contain a clear prohibition on discrimination against a person only because of his or her ethnic or national belonging, even in emergency situations. The opinions also demonstrate that courts in democratic states have not permitted sweeping restrictions to be imposed on the right to establish a family life. It can be inferred from the three expert opinions that the Citizenship and Entry into Israel Law discriminates on the basis of nationality and on the basis of ethnicity, and that it violates the constitutional rights to family life, dignity and equality in a sweeping manner.
Case citation: H.C. 830/07, Adalah v. The Minister of the Interior, et al.
The expert opinion prepared by the Open Society Justice Initiative
The expert opinion prepared by Dr. Helene Lambert and Prof. Rebecca Wallace
The expert opinion prepared by Attorney Anton Katz
