Adalah Condemns Minister of Interior's Plan to Revoke Citizenship of Two Palestinian Citizens of Israel
On 7 August 2002, Adalah filed a pre-petition to Minister of the Interior Eliyahu Yishai, raising grave concerns about his announcement that he intends to revoke the citizenship of two Palestinian citizens of Israel. Adalah asked that the Minister cancel this decision, as well as his decision to nullify the permanent residency status of a third Palestinian in Israel. The Minister announced that he would revoke the status of all three individuals on the grounds that they had breached state security.
In the pre-petition, Adalah Staff Attorney Orna Kohn stated that the right to citizenship is a basic right in Israeli and international law, and that this revocation of citizenship would be unprecedented. The right to citizenship was upheld by the former Minister of the Interior and by the Supreme Court in Hilla Alrai v. the Minister of the Interior, in which the Ministry was asked by a third party to strip the citizenship of Yigal Amir, the Israeli citizen who assassinated former Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin. In this case, the then Minister of the Interior declined to revoke Amir's citizenship, noting that although the Citizenship Law granted him the authority to revoke citizenship of individuals suspected of breach of trust, and that he can take such action without a hearing, such an action would be extreme and drastic. The only explanation for the dramatic change in policy by the Ministry is that in this case, the issue involves revoking the citizenship of Palestinian citizens of Israel.
Such a step would also be in violation of international law and human rights standards. Article 15(1) of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights states that "Everyone has the right to a nationality." Further, revoking the citizenship of an individual who would subsequently be without any citizenship is a violation of the UN Convention on the Reduction of Statelessness, to which Israel is a signatory.
This step is part of series of decisions to restrict the citizenship rights of the Palestinian citizens of Israel. In May, the Israeli Cabinet accepted Minister Yishai's proposed interim policy regarding family unifications. This policy establishes a two-tier system based on the nationality of the applicant's spouse, canceling all applications from residents of the Palestinian authority or individuals of Palestinian descent, and stating that applications from others will be reviewed in light of the national origin of the applicant. This decision is particularly discriminatory in its effect on Palestinian citizens of Israel, as in practice, they are the ones who primarily marry non-citizen Palestinians.
Adalah remains gravely concerned that the decision to revoke the citizenship of Palestinian citizens of Israel contributes to the delegitimization of the Palestinian minority, and encourages racism against members of this community. The organization raised its concerns on this issue in February 2002, when it wrote to Minister Yishai following the announcement that he was preparing a list of Palestinian citizens of Israel whose citizenship he planned to revoke. The Minister never responded to Adalah's letters. Adalah calls on Minister Yishai to cancel his decision; to uphold his duty to act in a fair and non-discriminatory manner; and to refrain from harming the legitimate status of Israeli citizens.
Adalah News Update "Adalah to the Interior Ministry: Your Plan to Revoke the Citizenship of Arab Citizens of Israel is Illegal," 20 February 2002
