Following a hearing held before the Supreme Court of Israel on 10 September 2008 on a petition filed by members of the Palestinian Legislative Council (PLC) and residents of East Jerusalem against the revocation of their permanent residency status, today, 17 September 2008, the court decided to give the men the opportunity to submit applications to the Israeli Minister of Interior to reinstate their residency status. The court confirmed that doing so would not be considered to be a retraction of their principle arguments.

In the decision, the court stated that since the petition was filed, changes had occurred within the Palestinian Authority, and that some or all of the petitioners who were serving in the institutions of the [Palestinian] Authority did not wish to continue to serve in their positions. The court postponed further deliberations on the petition to allow the PLC members to consider ways of renewing their residency status. The court asked the two parties to inform it of developments that occur in the case within 60 days, after which it would decide how to proceed in the case.

In May 2006, the then-Minister of the Interior, Roni Bar-On decided to revoke the permanent residency status of four Palestinian politicians, who are all from East Jerusalem. Attorney Osama Sa’adi filed a petition to the Supreme Court on behalf of the men against the revocation of the residency status. Adalah and the Association for Civil Rights in Israel (ACRI) then submitted an amicus brief to the court to challenge the Interior Minister’s decision.

In the amicus brief, which was jointly submitted by Attorney Hassan Jabareen of Adalah, and Attorneys Dan Yakir and Oded Feller of ACRI, the organizations argued that the Interior Minister does not have the authority to revoke the permanent residency status of the population of East Jerusalem on the pretext of “breach of trust” or due to membership in a foreign parliament.

In discussing the special status of East Jerusalem, the organizations argued that with the Occupation of 1967 the government of Israel imposed permanent residency status on the local population, and emphasized that the population of East Jerusalem did not migrate to inside Israel. Therefore, the residency status of the people of East Jerusalem in their own city was never made conditional on any terms, and there is no justification for its cancellation. Moreover, the State of Israel has recognized – from the Oslo Accords – that the Palestinian residents of the eastern part of the city are part of the Palestinian people in the West Bank and Gaza Strip. Consequently, Israel permitted them to vote and be elected in the elections for the Palestinian Legislative Council and in the selection of the Chairman of the Palestinian National Authority. Only after the petitioners were elected, and because the election results were not welcomed by the government of Israel, did it decide to cancel their residency status.

Following today’s Supreme Court decision, Adalah Attorney Hassan Jabareen stated that, “The court’s decision is an attempt to avoid issuing a ruling on the principle matters raised in the petition. If the court were to approve the decision of the Interior Minister, it would constitute a legal precedent that would facilitate the revocation of the residency status and expulsion of Jerusalemites from their city, and would leave Jerusalem empty of Palestinians.”

Case citation: H.C. 7803/06, Khalid Abu Arafeh et al. v. Minister of Interior

The parliamentarians concerned - Mr. Muhammad Abu-Teir, Mr. Ahmad Attoun, Mr. Muhammad Totah and Mr. Khaled Abu Arafeh, who is also the Palestinian Minister of Jerusalem Affairs - were all elected on the list of Hamas (Change and Reform) in the January 2006 elections to the Palestinian Legislative Council.

Link to Decision (Hebrew)

Link to Decision (English)

Link to Amicus Brief (Hebrew)