Adalah's Newsletter Volume 3, July 2004

 

Volume 3, July 2004 www.adalah.org
Adalah to Supreme Court: Issue Injunction Preventing Implementation of the Nationality and Entry into Israel Law pending ruling on the petitions filed against it
On 21 July the law banning family unification between Palestinians and their Israeli spouses was extended by the Knesset for six months. The Knesset also approved the preliminary reading of another racist law aimed at stripping discretional authority from the Ministry of Interior to issue residency permits.
Within a Matter of Hours: Israeli Supreme Court Revokes a Prohibition Order Preventing the Israeli Military from Demolishing Ten Buildings in Southern Rafah
Adalah requested the order because of a significant danger of further home demolitions in southern Rafah. The Attorney General responded that the Israeli military is unable to identify the ten homes, and asked for the prohibition order to be revoked.
 
 
Articles
 
 
The Racist Separation Wall in the West Bank
A look at its economic and social effects, and its ramifications regarding the future of the Palestinian People
Jamal Juma’a – Coordinator of the Campaign to Resist the Racist Separation Wall
Economic Domination and Law’s Collaboration
Marwan Dalal, Advocate

 
 
 
The Right to Family Life
Following a petition submitted by Adalah and Hamoked Center: Illegal Order Forcing Arab Citizens of Israel Visiting their Families in Gaza to Remain there for Three Months is Frozen
In a Supreme Court hearing on 7 July, the Israeli Military Southern Command announced it will review applications for permission to enter Gaza on an individual basis, and assess the need for the order.
 
 
Health Rights
Following Adalah’s petition against the Ministries of Health and Finance: Family Health Clinics to be Operated in Naqab Villages of Hura and Lagiyya
Adalah will monitor the implementation of the Supreme Court's decision, and whether the clinics will be able to provide an adequate service to their thousands of clients.
 
 
Criminal Justice
Adalah to Israel Prison Service Commissioner: Instruct all Prison Personnel to Stop Illegally Strip Searching Prisoners
Any prisoner who has recently requested to see a prison physician has been unjustifiably ordered to strip naked. Ordering illegal strip searches of prisoners has become widespread and systematic. In response to Adalah's letter, representatives of the Ministry of Justice intend to visit Shata and Gilboa prisons.
Prison Service Commissioner Denies “Security” Prisoners’ Right to take Matriculation Examinations
Adalah demands the cancellation of the decision, which constitutes collective punishment, and could harm prisoners' chances of acquiring qualifications, finding work and re-integrating into society.
Opening Remarks
 
On 21 July, the Knesset voted to extend the Nationality and Entry to Israel Law (Temporary Order) – 2003 for an additional six months. On the same day, a bill to amend the Entry into Israel Law (Amendments to the Powers of the Minister of the Interior) - 2004 passed its preliminary reading in the Knesset. These two laws are based on racist demographic considerations, which deny status in Israel on an ethnic basis. These laws join a series of racist policies undertaken by the Israeli authorities, which are primarily targeted against the Palestinian Arab minority. These include the reactivation of the Public Demography Council, as well as master plans and discriminatory land resource allocations, whose aim is the "Judaization" of the geographic space. Further examples are house demolitions, lawsuits to evict the inhabitants of entire unrecognized villages and the persecution of the elected Arab political and religious leadership. These measures aim to ensure the government's control over demographic trends, and over the geographic space and state resources, for the exclusive benefit of the state's Jewish citizens. Meanwhile, the state of Israel continues to pursue its policies of racial segregation and oppression in the Occupied Territories. These policies are primarily reflected in wide-spread home demolition operations and the construction of the Separation Wall, which "imprisons" residents of the West Bank inside "closed" and isolated islands in the areas which Israel is annexing. These policies constitute violations of international law, as the International Court of Justice confirmed in its decision on the Separation Wall. The articles in this volume focus on one of the principal consequences of the aforementioned policies, namely the crude violation of the social and economic rights of the Arab minority in Israel, and the Palestinians of the Occupied Territories, in their local and international contexts.
 
New Publications
 
Adalah's Review, Vol. 4
In the Name of Security
 

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