Adalah to Defense Minister: The Right of Arab Citizens of Israel to Visit their Families in Gaza during Ramadan and Eid al-Fitr is a Constitutional Right

On 25 August 2009, Adalah sent an urgent letter to Israeli Minister of Defense Ehud Barak and Commander of the Israeli Army Southern Command, Yoav Galant, demanding that Palestinian Arab citizens of Israel be allowed to visit family members living in the Gaza Strip during the Muslim holy month of Ramadan and the Eid al-Fitr holiday. Adalah further demanded that clear criteria be specified to govern entry into Gaza for the purpose of family visits.

In the letter , Adalah Attorney Rana Asali wrote that during a telephone conversation with the person responsible at the Erez crossing for issuing entry permits into Gaza to Israeli citizens and residents, she learned that according to current Israeli policy, citizens of Israel are permitted to enter Gaza only in “emergency humanitarian cases,” such as critical illness or death, and not for conducting family visits, including for religious reasons.

Adalah argued that not considering family visits during religious festivals as a humanitarian need indicates a very strict and narrow interpretation of the term “humanitarian need” by the Israeli security forces. Denying Arab citizens of Israel the opportunity to visit their families during the month of Ramadan and holy days constitutes a blatant violation of their constitutional rights to a family life and freedom of religion and belief, particularly since family visits during Ramadan hold a special status within Islam. The right to a family life and the right to freedom of religion and belief are considered constitutional rights in Israel that are guaranteed by the Basic Law: Human Dignity and Liberty, and Israeli Supreme Court rulings. These rights are also guaranteed to members of national minority groups under international human rights law.

Preventing citizens of Israel from visiting their families in Gaza also contradicts an agreement reached by human rights organization HaMoked: Center for the Defence of the Individual with the Commander of the Israeli Army Southern Command and approved by the Supreme Court (See H.C. 10043/03, Abagian et al. v The Military Commander of the Gaza Strip, et al., decision delivered on 17 November 2004). The agreement stipulates that requests for entry into Gaza should be evaluated on a case–by-case basis: unless there is a specific and concrete security impediment in relation to a specific individual, the Commander must allow citizens and residents of Israel to enter Gaza to visit their relatives, accompanied by their spouses and children under eighteen years of age, during the Muslim holy days of Eid al-Fitr and Eid al-Adha, as well as Christmas and Easter for Christians.