Residency Rights: the Israeli Supreme Court
On Thursday 22 April 1999, the Israeli High Court heard the petition submitted last year by five Israeli human rights organisations for Palestinians with their residency rights in occupied Jerusalem revoked. The High Court postponed its decision awaiting further details from the petitioners and the Government respondents. The petition argued that during the period 1994-1996 there was a marked change in the criteria used by the Interior Ministry on Palestinian residency in Jerusalem.
It was argued that, thereafter, more stringent criteria were applied to determine whether East Jerusalem Palestinians had the right to live in the city - the so-called "centre of life criteria". It was also argued that since the application of this more stringent criteria the number of Palestinians losing their right to residency had increased markedly. As an illustration, 45 Palestinians lost their right to reside in Jerusalem in 1994, 689 in 1996, 606 in 1997, 788 in 1998. Even these Interior Ministry figures under-estimate the numbers affected, the loss of one ID often results in a number of individuals losing their right to residency as children are registered on a parent's ID until their 16th birthday.
The Interior Ministry rejected the claims of the human rights organisations and argued that there had been no change in policy. Despite the fact that a final decision was expected, the court suggested that both parties review their respective positions and submit follow up reports. The court gave the Interior Ministry until late August 1999 to submit its final report and the human rights organisations were given until late September to respond to the Interior Ministry's report. The court set a date in late September 1999 to examine the reports.
The hearing was witnessed by international observers including Judge Rajindar Shachor, former Chief Justice of New Delhi High Court, Lawyer Per Stadig from Swedish International Commission of Jurists and Iric Nilssen a retired Swedish High Court Judge. They were invited by a number of Israeli and Palestinian human rights organisations as part of their campaign to end the policy of ID confiscations.
Legally, the court's decision was, on the whole, positive. The court believed that since the policy change was implemented retrospectively, without the knowledge of Palestinian Jerusalemites, an explanation of the Interior Ministry's past policy might impact the court's final decision. Both parties were ordered to categorize and pair-up their arguments for a later court date to be scheduled after August 1999.
Responding to the High Court Appeal against ID Card Confiscation, former Interior Minister Eli Suissa appeared to reverse the policy of confiscating ID cards from those Palestinian Jerusalemites living in the immediate area outside of the Israeli determined municipal borders.
"If an Israeli Jew travels to California and gets married there, would it occur to you to strip her citizenship? This is a discriminatory and scandalous policy. It does not comply with any norm of decency and I ask you to reconsider it"
Supreme Court President Aharon Barak to the Interior Ministry commenting on the policy of stripping Palestinian women of their residency rights if they marry West Bank or Gaza Palestinians and move to the Occupied Territories.
(Ha'aretz, 28/5/99)
"In the event that a resident moved to a neighboring settlement very close to the municipal borders of Jerusalem - that is, he lived in greater Jerusalem - and the center of his live in every respect (work, medical treatment, education and so on) continued to be in Israel, then the Interior Ministry would not say that the residency of such people has expired".
Israel's National Insurance Institute (NII) this decided to immediately grant medical benefits to Palestinians who return to live in Jerusalem after residing in nearby West Bank communities apparently changing the policy of the past four years. Other social benefits still await results of investigation. It remains to be seen, however, whether this change will be implemented on the ground. Suissa's words, it should be noted, are carefully chosen. The former Minister merely stated that the "Ministry would not say that the residency" has expired, rather than stating clearly that residency rights of Palestinians would not be revoked if Palestinians lived outside of Jerusalem.
Confiscations of IDs: The Revoking of "Permanent Resident" Status by the Ministry of the Interior and the Israeli Supreme Court (BADIL) (June 1997)