Adalah Submits 12 New Petitions to the Supreme Court Challenging Family Unification Policy
On 26 August 2002, Adalah submitted 12 individual petitions to the Supreme Court on the Israeli government's interim policy canceling all pending family unifications if the non-citizen spouse is Palestinian. The petitions were submitted by Adalah Staff Attorney Orna Kohn on behalf of 12 families of Arab citizens of Israel whose applications to grant residency or citizenship status to their non-citizen Palestinian spouses had been cancelled. The petitioners had been part of a larger petition filed on 30 May 2002. However, at the 14 July 2002 court hearing on the earlier petition, the three-judge panel ordered that that the petition be resubmitted as a separate petition on the general policy (with two cases as examples), and individual cases for the remaining 12 families, rather than a single group application.
During the July hearing, although the judges instructed that the situation of each family be addressed in a separate petition, they agreed to hear the petitions together. The petitions will be heard following the submittal of the State's response, which the Court determined is due 120 days from the date of the 14 July hearing. The Court also granted Adalah's request for a temporary injunction, prohibiting the deportation of the petitioners until a final decision has been made on the petition.
The interim policy entered into effect on 12 May 2002, when the Israeli government, by a unanimous decision of the cabinet, voted to prohibit family reunification of any spouse of an Israeli citizen who is a resident of the Palestinian Authority or of Palestinian descent. The decision further stipulated that the prohibition would continue until the Ministry of the Interior enacts a new procedure for family unification with more restrictive criteria for citizenship for Palestinian spouses of Israeli citizens. During the interim period, no new applications for residency or citizenship status will be accepted from non-citizen spouses of Israeli citizens who are Palestinian. Pending applications for such status from non-citizen spouses will not be approved, and the Palestinian spouse will be deported. Further, if an application was approved and the non-citizen Palestinian spouse had been granted a visa or temporary residency status, such status will not be upgraded until the new procedure has been established. It should be noted that the policy specifically states that applications from others will be considered in light of their national origin.
On 31 May 2002, the Supreme Court ordered the State to respond to Adalah's motion for a temporary injunction and the initial petition seeking to urgently cancel the Israeli government's discriminatory decision to prevent such family unifications. The Court ordered the respondents to reply to the motion for a temporary injunction within seven days and to the petition within 21 days.
In the new petition, Adalah argued that the government's interim decision, which is currently being implemented, strongly discriminates against the petitioners. It harms their most fundamental right to marry and found a family with the spouse of their choice, and violates their right to live normally as a family with their children. The government's interim decision also violates the petitioners' rights to dignity, equality and privacy. Further, Adalah argued that the government had no authority to make such a decision, which contradicts the Basic Law: Human Dignity and Liberty (1992), the Citizenship Law (1952), and international human rights law.
Adalah emphasized that in practice, the decision primarily affects Arab citizens of Israel, who are most likely to have non-citizen Palestinian spouses. The general policy for residency and citizenship status for all other non-citizen spouses of Israeli citizens remains unchanged.
