6-28-05,9:45am
GAZA- - The Israeli government approved on Sunday a law to deny Palestinians married to Israeli citizens the permanent stay visa in Israel, and expel all those staying illegally from Israel.
The Israel law is targeting mainly Arab families, where Arab Israeli citizens have married Palestinians from the occupied territories, and live together inside Israel.
Israeli media sources asserted that the law was submitted by the Israeli Interior Minister Ophir Pines-Paz.
The law stated that the Israeli Interior Ministry would give residency permits to those who entered and stayed illegally, except when this has happened without bad intentions or under uncontrollable conditions.
The law also prevents those deemed by Israel as a “security threat” from applying or receiving a permanent residency visa, and those who are illegally staying in Israel must be expelled first in order to apply for a residency visa, as long as they haven’t stayed illegally for more than one year.
On the other hand, the Association of Civil Rights in Israel (ACRI) demanded the Israeli Prime Minister oppose this law, as they constitute a grave breach of citizens’ rights.
ACRI added that the limitations on the citizenship law ignores the living conditions of many families that applied for a reunion, and the approval of this law would jeopardize thousands of families in Israel, in addition to considering Palestinians as second class citizens, even those born inside what is called now Israel.
A press statement by the association stated that as Israel lacked a defined policy for non-Jewish immigrants, as their procedures had been frequently changed over a few years according to government and Interior Ministry policies, which didn’t follow a common set of standards.
The association called on the Israeli government to set a clear and open immigration policy that deals with all sorts of immigrations, as well as the Israeli state’s duties towards its citizens, which are based on predefined standards in terms of granting status to non-Jews.
