HaMoked urges the Knesset not to extend the validity of the Law of Citizenship and Entry to Israel (Temporary Order): HaMoked is of the opinion that the “relief” measures appearing in Amendment 2 to the Law are a deception. In fact, the legislation preserves and even worsens he draconian arrangement, which is based on clear racial and demographic considerations cloaked in security rationale

In a position paper dated 27 December 2006, HaMoked determines that the new proposed amendment of the Law of Citizenship and Entry to Israel (Amendment No. 2) actually entails the preservation, and even the worsening, of a draconian arrangement that is based on demographic and racial considerations, discriminates based on ethnic or national origin, and constitutes an explicit contradiction of the High Court of Justice (HCJ) ruling in 7052/03 Adalah et al. vs. Minister of the Interior et al. The amendment to the law makes it possible to inflict harsh collective punishment, in that it effectively rejects almost all applications for the extension of stay in Israel, if it is determined that the resident of the Occupied Territories, or any person in their extended family, is likely to pose a security threat. The proposed law also ignores the grave harm caused to Palestinian children who have one parent with legal status in Israel and another who is a resident of the Territories. Those children, if they were born in the Territories or are even registered there, are deprived of the possibility of receiving permanent status in Israel. 

The proposed law, which was presented by the government on 18 December 2006, aims, under the cloak of security rationales, to extend the draconian temporary from August 2003 for an additional two years. The temporary order stipulates, among other things, that the Interior Minister will not grant citizenship in or visas for Israel to residents of the Occupied Territories and that the military commander will not grant these residents permits to stay in Israel. The order sweepingly and disproportionately limits the possibility for Israelis who are married to or will marry Palestinian residents of the Occupied Territories to submit requests for family unification on their behalf. In addition, the amendment proposes far-reaching changes to the 2003 temporary order, including extending its provisions to the residents and citizens of “risk countries” (the countries so defined, according to the proposal, are presently Iran, Lebanon, Syria and Iraq); empowering the interior minister to determine whether an applicant for residency or a permit to stay in Israel is likely to pose a security threat to the State of Israel based on the opinion of the security authorities that activities are being undertaken in the applicant's country or area of residence that are liable to endanger the security of the State of Israel or its citizens.  The proposed law would also grant the interior minister broader authority to refuse a status request on the grounds of a security threat posed by a member of the applicant's family. The definition of the term “family member” is substantially broadened in the temporary order, thus diminishing the possibility of uniting families with a “spouse, parent, child, brother or sister, or the respective spouses of any of these” who is liable to endanger the state. Finally, the proposal ostensibly provides a “humanitarian exception” supposedly allowing a visa or a permit to stay to residents of the Territories in special “humanitarian situations.” However, this “humanitarian exception” is a deception. Since the maximum status allowable by it is only temporary, the exception does not provide an answer to unique situations and puts a quota on those cases in which a permit to stay is granted on a “humanitarian exception” basis. 

To view the proposed law (Hebrew)