Center for the Defence of the Individual - After a protected battle: a Palestinian woman living in Jerusalem for many years without rights is given an Israeli stay permit and her young daughter is registered as a permanent resident
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חזרה לעמוד הקודם
27.03.2016

After a protected battle: a Palestinian woman living in Jerusalem for many years without rights is given an Israeli stay permit and her young daughter is registered as a permanent resident

In 2007, the Israeli government adopted Resolution 2492, whereby Palestinians who had lived in East Jerusalem prior to its annexation by Israel in 1967, but who had been absent from the population census conducted that year, would be given military-issued stay permits (rather than Israeli status), allowing their presence in East Jerusalem only and giving them no social security rights – and this only provided they had been living in the city continuously since 1987 and applied for the permit no later than April 2008.

Pursuant to the Resolution, these stay permits were given to a Palestinian woman who had been living in Jerusalem for many years; the permits restricted her movement only to the northern neighborhoods of the city and did not enable her to be legally employed. The woman had married an East Jerusalem resident, who was addicted to drugs and alcohol and abused her physically. In 2008, while in her second pregnancy, the woman left the marital home with her first born daughter and gave birth to her second daughter a few months after the separation. Thus, while the eldest daughter was registered as a permanent Israeli resident based on her father’s status, the second daughter’s status was left unsettled.

On April 7, 2013, HaMoked applied to the Minister of Interior’s advisory committee on grant of Israeli status for special humanitarian grounds, and asked that the woman be given a stay permit that would allow her unrestricted movement in Israel and permission to work. HaMoked stressed that the woman was raising two small daughters, one a registered Israeli resident, but was effectively unable to provide for them or accompany them throughout the city. HaMoked further stressed that the woman’s parents were Jerusalemites and that she had been living in the city for about thirty years.

On May 20, 2014, HaMoked was notified that the Minister of Interior had decided to grant the woman a special humanitarian-grounds stay permit, which afforded her freedom of movement in Israel and included a work permit.

On May 31, 2015, HaMoked filed an application to have the younger daughter registered in the population registry, but despite repeated reminders no response arrived from the Ministry of Interior. Therefore, on December 7, 2015, HaMoked filed an appeal to the Appeals Tribunal in Jerusalem, asserting, inter alia, that the Ministry of Interior’s long delay was in breach of its obligation as an administrative authority, to provide swift response and efficiently handle applications.

On January 25, 2016, HaMoked was notified that the daughter’s case had been transferred for consideration of the interministerial committee for humanitarian affairs. Finally, on March 27, 2016, the Ministry of Interior announced it had decided to approve the request and grant the daughter permanent Israeli status.

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