{"id":4887,"date":"2006-08-17T00:20:00","date_gmt":"2006-08-16T21:20:00","guid":{"rendered":""},"modified":"2024-12-14T19:12:49","modified_gmt":"2024-12-14T17:12:49","slug":"epalestine-btselemhamoked-perpetual","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/epalestine.ps\/sambahour\/2006\/08\/epalestine-btselemhamoked-perpetual\/","title":{"rendered":"B’Tselem\/HaMoked: Perpetual Limbo: Israel’s Freeze on Unification of Palestinian Families in the Occupied Territories"},"content":{"rendered":"

Dear friends,  <\/span><\/font><\/p>\n

<\/font><\/p>\n

Here is a report released today by two Israeli<\/u> human and legal rights groups regarding the issue I have written about frequently, the Israeli policy of separating families by denying foreign nationals, mainly Palestinians, entry rights into Israel, thus making it impossible to reach the West Bank and\/or Gaza.<\/span><\/font><\/p>\n


\n <\/strong><\/span><\/font><\/p>\n

This policy amounts to SILENT TRANSFER; all happening below the radar of the international community.  Literally, tens of thousands of Palestinians have been affected over the last 4-6 months and the damage continues.<\/strong><\/span><\/font><\/p>\n


\n <\/strong><\/span><\/font><\/p>\n

We have started an ad-hoc support group here that is working on a campaign.  Anyone who is affected or interested is welcome to visit: <\/span><\/font>http:\/\/groups.yahoo.com\/group\/myrtoe<\/span><\/font><\/a><\/p>\n

<\/font><\/p>\n

14 days and counting for my own visa,  <\/span><\/font><\/p>\n

Sam<\/span><\/font><\/p>\n

<\/font><\/p>\n

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\n <\/strong><\/span><\/font><\/p>\n

JOINT REPORT – B’Tselem\/HaMoked<\/strong><\/span><\/font><\/p>\n


\n <\/strong><\/span><\/font><\/p>\n

FULL 65-pg REPORT may be downloaded from:  <\/span><\/font><\/p>\n

http:\/\/www.btselem.org\/Download\/200607_Perpetual_Limbo_Eng.doc<\/span><\/font><\/a><\/p>\n


\n <\/strong><\/span><\/font><\/p>\n

July 2006, Joint report with Hamoked – Center for the Defence of the Individual, Summary  <\/strong><\/span><\/font><\/p>\n

<\/font><\/p>\n

Perpetual Limbo: Israel’s Freeze on Unification of Palestinian Families in the Occupied Territories <\/strong><\/span><\/font><\/font><\/p>\n

<\/font><\/p>\n

For more than five and a half years, Israel has prevented family unification between Palestinian residents of the Occupied Territories and their spouses from abroad. Israel also prohibits the foreign family members from visiting the West Bank or the Gaza Strip. Since the beginning of the second intifada, Palestinians have submitted more than 120,000 requests for family unification, which Israel has refused to process. Only in rare instances, which Israel deems "exceptional humanitarian cases," have state authorities processed the requests.  <\/span><\/font><\/p>\n

<\/font><\/p>\n

The freeze on processing family unification requests has created a harsh reality for tens of thousands of Palestinian families: spouses are unable to live under the same roof; children are forced to grow up in single-parent families though their parents want to live together; people do not leave the Occupied Territories to go abroad for medical treatment because Israel will not issue them a new visitor’s permit; tens of thousands of women live in the Occupied Territories with no legal status and thus face the constant threat of deportation, become prisoners in their homes, and are unable to live a normal life.  <\/span><\/font><\/p>\n

<\/font><\/p>\n

The freeze policy severely infringes Palestinians’ human rights, breaching their right to marry and found a family, among other things. Denial of family rights also harms the social, economic, and emotional lives of all family members. The longer the freeze continues, the greater the harm.  <\/span><\/font><\/p>\n

<\/font><\/p>\n

Israel imposed the new policy in October 2001, several days after the outbreak of the second intifada. Israel contends that the freeze resulted from the intifada and the security situation. Israel never explained how the policy is related to the uprising in the Occupied Territories or how the policy serves its security needs. There is no question that Israel is entitled to take its security needs into account when it sets policy in the Occupied Territories . But these needs do not grant it the right to trample on the human rights of Palestinians, who live under complete Israeli control.  <\/span><\/font><\/p>\n

<\/font><\/p>\n

There are reasons to believe that the freeze policy is based on extraneous, improper considerations. The policy completely bars immigration into the Occupied Territories , and even encourages residents to leave the area and live with their spouse and children abroad. At the same time, Israel allows the unfettered immigration of Israelis into the West Bank . A policy aimed at changing the demographics of occupied territory is forbidden. This practice constitutes racial discrimination, which must be eliminated wherever it appears. It also appears that Israel instituted the policy for use as a "bargaining chip" in future negotiations with the Palestinian Authority over the right of return.  <\/span><\/font><\/p>\n

<\/font><\/p>\n

The freeze policy is arbitrary. Indeed, in most cases where a family petitions the High Court of Justice, the state withdraws its refusal and grants a visitor’s permit to enter the West Bank . In addition, the sweeping nature of the policy raises the concern that it was intended to punish the Palestinian population for initiating the uprising. In general, Israel conditions renewal of the processing of family unification requests on the absence of Palestinian rebellion against it. Collective punishment is absolutely forbidden under international humanitarian law.  <\/span><\/font><\/p>\n

<\/font><\/p>\n

HaMoked and B’Tselem call on the government of Israel to begin immediately to process requests for family unification and visitor’s permits to enable Palestinians to exercise their right to live as a family in the Occupied Territories within a reasonable period of time. Israel must ignore political and demographic considerations, and weigh only its security needs, while fully respecting all human rights involved.  <\/span><\/font><\/p>\n

<\/font><\/p>\n

http:\/\/www.btselem.org\/english\/Publications\/Summaries\/200607_Perpetual_Limbo.asp<\/span><\/font><\/a><\/p>\n

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<\/font><\/p>\n

An American case that lived this limbo status:<\/span><\/font><\/p>\n

<\/font><\/p>\n

July 28, 2006 – Selection at the Border: an American, Not a Palestinian, Can Visit Palestine…<\/span><\/font><\/a><\/p>\n

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<\/font><\/p>\n

A collection of material on this issue of denying entry to West Bank and Gaza may be found at The Electronic Intifada<\/strong>:<\/span><\/font><\/p>\n

<\/font><\/p>\n

http:\/\/electronicintifada.net\/<\/span><\/font><\/a><\/p>\n

<\/font><\/p>\n

<\/font><\/p>\n

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———————————————————————–<\/span><\/font><\/p>\n

<\/font><\/p>\n

Everything about this list:<\/span><\/font><\/p>\n

http:\/\/lists.riseup.net\/www\/info\/epalestine<\/span><\/font><\/p>\n

<\/font><\/p>\n

To unsubscribe, send mail to:<\/span><\/font><\/p>\n

epalestine-unsubscribe@lists.riseup.net<\/span><\/font><\/p>\n

<\/font><\/p>\n

To subscribe, send mail to:<\/span><\/font><\/p>\n

epalestine-subscribe@lists.riseup.net<\/span><\/font><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Dear friends,  Here is a report released today by two Israeli human and legal rights groups regarding the issue I have written about frequently, the Israeli policy of separating families by denying foreign nationals, mainly Palestinians, entry rights into Israel, thus making it impossible to reach the West Bank and\/or Gaza. This policy amounts to […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"nf_dc_page":"","footnotes":"","_ppma_block_editor_authors":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"ppma_author":[936],"class_list":["post-4887","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news"],"authors":[{"term_id":936,"user_id":4,"is_guest":0,"slug":"sambahour","display_name":"Sam Bahour","avatar_url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/bca109c333bf6d8ae807746dd512adde46265d37c923f6cd0fc4aab437f8e9aa?s=96&d=mm&r=g","author_category":"1","first_name":"Sam","last_name":"Bahour","user_url":"https:\/\/epalestine.ps\/sambahour","job_title":"","description":"

Sam Bahour<\/strong> is a Palestinian-American business consultant, writer, and commentator based in Al-Bireh\/Ramallah, Palestine. He is the principal of Applied Information Management (AIM)<\/a>, a consultancy specializing in business development and startup advisory services.<\/p>\r\n

Bahour was instrumental in establishing two of Palestine\u2019s publicly traded companies: the Palestine Telecommunications Company (PALTEL) and the Arab Palestinian Shopping Centers (APSC). He co-founded Americans for a Vibrant Palestinian Economy (A4VPE), of which he is now an emeritus member, and served as an independent director on the board of Arab Islamic Bank P.L.C. from 2004 to 2025. He currently serves on the board of Just Vision<\/a> and The Palestine Economic Policy Research Institute (MAS)<\/a>.<\/p>\r\n

He frequently gives talks to delegations visiting Palestine on the subjects of Palestine\u2019s political economy, Palestinian Politics 101, and a general orientation to the state of affairs under Israeli military occupation.<\/p>\r\n

A prolific writer on Palestinian affairs, Bahour has been published in major international outlets including The New York Times, The Guardian, Haaretz, The Washington Post, The Boston Globe, the Los Angeles Times, Al Jazeera America, Le Monde diplomatique, Al-Monitor, +972 Magazine, The Hill, and Arab News. He has appeared as a commentator on NPR, CNN, BBC, and other broadcast media.<\/p>\r\n

Bahour is the co-editor of Homeland: Oral Histories of Palestine and Palestinians<\/a><\/em> (Olive Branch Press, 1993) and was profiled in the bestselling anthology Kingdom of Olives and Ash<\/a><\/em>, edited by Michael Chabon and Ayelet Waldman, in a chapter authored by Chabon titled \u201cThe Tallest Man in Ramallah<\/a>.\u201d He holds an Associate\u2019s and Bachelor\u2019s degree in Computer Technology from Youngstown State University, and a Kellogg-Recanati International Executive MBA \u2014 a joint program of the Kellogg School of Management at Northwestern University and the Recanati Business School at Tel Aviv University.<\/p>\r\n

He tweets at @SamBahour<\/a>, blogs at www.epalestine.ps<\/a>, and may be reached at sbahour[AT]gmail[DOT]com.<\/p>"}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/epalestine.ps\/sambahour\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4887","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/epalestine.ps\/sambahour\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/epalestine.ps\/sambahour\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/epalestine.ps\/sambahour\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/epalestine.ps\/sambahour\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4887"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/epalestine.ps\/sambahour\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4887\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":10377,"href":"https:\/\/epalestine.ps\/sambahour\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4887\/revisions\/10377"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/epalestine.ps\/sambahour\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4887"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/epalestine.ps\/sambahour\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4887"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/epalestine.ps\/sambahour\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4887"},{"taxonomy":"author","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/epalestine.ps\/sambahour\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/ppma_author?post=4887"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}