In an arbitrary decision, the Population Authority revoked the stay permits of a 33-year-old man who had lived in Jerusalem for decades under a protracted “child registration” process following his mother’s death; after HaMoked’s petition, the Appeals Tribunal issued an interim injunction preventing his deportation

HaMoked frequently challenges laws and procedures that violate the fundamental rights of Palestinian residents of Jerusalem. Sometimes, however, it is the absence of an established procedure that enables the violation, as in cases involving the registration of children whose families have moved from the West Bank to Jerusalem.

Children who move with their parents from the West Bank to Jerusalem through family unification proceedings are entitled to status in Israel through their parents’ proceedings, but only until the age of 14. Above that age, these children are no longer eligible for status in Israel and live alongside their parents on renewable stay permits. Once they turn 18, the law does not regulate their continued stay in Israel, leaving them dependent on the Ministry of Interior’s discretion. To date, under an arrangement established in HCJ 466/07 - MK Zehava Galon v. Attorney General, the State has agreed to continue renewing these permits after the age of 18, subject to proof of a center of life in Israel, without resolving whether these children, now adults, are entitled to status in Israel. This creates a situation in which children who have reached adulthood may live in Jerusalem for decades on temporary permits that can be revoked overnight at the Ministry of Interior’s discretion. They cannot obtain an Israeli driving license and live without civil status or social rights.

In some cases, this policy may even lead to permit holders being suddenly deported from their homes and uprooted from the center of their lives, despite having complied with the conditions of their permits. This is what happened to A., who was born in the West Bank and moved with his mother to East Jerusalem in 2005, as a young teenager. His mother, a permanent resident of Jerusalem, applied to register him in Jerusalem’s population registry in 2009. The application was finally approved in 2012 following legal procedures filed by HaMoked. Because of his age, he was eligible only for renewable stay permits, and throughout his decades in Jerusalem, his status in Israel was never regularized.

The turning point came on March 10, 2025, when A.’s mother died. He was 33 years old. His appointment at the Ministry of Interior to renew his stay permit was scheduled for three days later. A., who was observing the three-day mourning period customary in Islam, missed the appointment. A few days later, he contacted the Ministry of Interior and explained the exceptional circumstances that had caused him to miss it. But upon learning that his mother had died, Population Authority officials refused to renew A.’s stay permit or issue him a temporary permit. Instead, they directed him to apply to regularize his status through a humanitarian procedure that could take many years.

After several letters to the Ministry of Interior went unanswered, HaMoked filed an appeal on July 2, 2025, seeking to regularize A.’s stay in Jerusalem and prevent his deportation. In the appeal, HaMoked emphasized that the refusal to renew A.’s stay permits constituted a profound and unconstitutional violation of his right to family life. Deporting him to the West Bank after more than a decade of lawful residence in Jerusalem would separate him from his wife and two children, as well as his six brothers and seven sisters, all permanent residents of Jerusalem. Leaving him without status would also undermine his ability to provide for his children’s basic needs.

Finally, HaMoked stressed that even if the Ministry of Interior wished to direct A. to the humanitarian procedure to regularize his status, it was obliged to issue him a temporary permit pending a decision. This procedure, secured through AP (Jerusalem) 612/04 - Dahud et al. v. Minister of Interior et al. (the “Dahud Procedure”), has repeatedly been violated by the Ministry of Interior in recent years. This pattern was temporarily halted following HaMoked’s 2025 petition.

In its judgment of August 10, 2026, the Tribunal dismissed the appeal without ruling on the underlying issue of principle. However, it ruled that an injunction would be issued suspending enforcement proceedings against A. pending a final decision in his case, provided that he submitted an internal appeal against the Population Authority’s decision or an application to the Humanitarian Committee within 21 days.

A.’s case illustrates the uncertainty surrounding the legal status of people born in the West Bank who receive stay permits in Israel through child registration proceedings. Without an established procedure or recognition of their rights, they remain dependent on the discretion of the Population Authority, which sometimes makes arbitrary and unfounded decisions. For A. and others, the consequences can be devastating.