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Fractured Lives: Restrictions on Residency Rights and Family Reunification in Occupied Palestine Family Reunification in Occupied Palestine

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Fractured Lives: Restrictions on Residency Rights and Family Reunification in Occupied Palestine Family Reunification in Occupied Palestine Fractured Lives: Restrictions on Residency Rights and Family Reunification in Occupied Palestine Family Reunification in Occupied Palestine December 2015 December 2015 1 1 Fractured Lives: Restrictions on Residency Rights and Family Reunification in Occupied Palestine December 2015 1 November 2015 Written by Diana Buttu Editing and additional research by Yotam Ben-Hillel, Leora Bechor, Martin Clutterbuck and Alon Margalit Cover photo (front): Palestinians crossing at Qalandia checkpoint (Mathew Truscott, 2015). Cover photo (back): A Palestinian couple, facing residency issues, holding their ID cards (Nader Muaddi, 2015). The Norwegian Refugee Council (NRC) is an independent, international humanitarian non- governmental organisation that provides assistance, protection and durable solutions to refugees and internally displaced persons worldwide. This report has been produced with the financial assistance of the UK Department for International Development. The contents of this publication are the sole responsibility of the authors and can under no circumstances be regarded as reflecting the position or the official opinion of the UK Department for International Development. 2 Table of Contents EXECUTIVE SUMMARY ........................................................................................ 5 1 INTRODUCTION ................................................................................................. 7 2 INTERNATIONAL NORMS GOVERNING FAMILY REUNIFICATION IN OCCUPIED TERRITORY ...................................................................................... 10 2.1 Applicable Norms ............................................................................................................................................. 10 2.1.1 International Humanitarian Law 2.1.2 Human Rights Law ............................................................................................................................ 10 ..................................................................................................................................................... 13 3 ISRAELI POLICIES AIMED AT LIMITING RESIDENCY IN THE WEST BANK AND GAZA STRIP ...................................................................................... 15 3.1 Israeli Policies: 1967 to 1995 ......................................................................................................................... 15 3.1.1 Financial Incentives to Leave; Disincentives to Remain 3.1.2 Residency Revocation 3.1.3 Hindering Family Unification ............................................................................... 15 3.1.4 Limitations on Child Registration ............................................................................................................................................... 16 ................................................................................................................................. 17 3.2 The Interim Agreement and the Palestinian ................................ Population................................ Registry ................................................................................................................ 21 20 3.2.1 Provisions of the Interim Agreement 3.2.2 The 'Quota' System ................................................................................................................... 21 3.3 The Palestinian Population ................................ Registry Following................................ the Second................................ Intifada ....................................................................................................... 22 3.3.1 Freeze on Processing Family Unification Requests 3.3.2 Freeze on Issuance of Visitor Permits 3.3.3 Freeze on Registration of Children ........................................................................................ 22 3.3.4 Freeze on Change of Address Requests .................................................................................................................. 23 3.3.5 From ‘Humanitarian’ to ‘Bargaining ................................ Chips’ ....................................................................................... 23 3.3.6 ‘Stay’ Permits .............................................................................................................. 24 3.3.7 Military Order 1650 ..................................................................................................... 25 ............................................................................................................................................................... 26 .................................................................................................................................................... 28 4 CHALLENGES TO ISRAELI POLICY BEFORE ISRAELI COURTS ............. 30 4.1 Family Unification in the West Bank ........................................................................................................... 30 4.2 Changing Place of Residency from Gaza to the West Bank ................................................................... 31 5 CONCLUSIONS ON RESIDENCY IN THE WEST BANK AND THE GAZA STRIP ...................................................................................................................... 33 6 RESIDENCY RIGHTS IN EAST JERUSALEM ................................................ 35 6.1 Measures to Decrease Palestinian Population in Jerusalem .................................................................. 36 6.1.1 Revocation of Residency – 'Center of Life' Policy .......................................................................................... 37 3 6.1.2 Family Reunification 6.1.3 Registration of Children 6.1.4 Revocation of Residency ................................ on the Basis ................................of Political Activity................................................................................. 41 ............................................................................................................................................ 44 6.2 The Approach of Israeli Courts ................................................................ ............................................................................................................................. 4 478 6.2.1 Revocation of Residency 6.2.2 Family Unification and Child Registration .......................................................................................................................................... 48 ........................................................................................................ 49 7 ROLE OF THE PALESTINIAN AUTHORITY’S MINISTRY OF CIVIL AFFAIRS ................................................................................................................. 51 8 CONCLUSION .................................................................................................... 52 4 Executive Summary Amongst the many serious violations of international law committed in occupied Palestine by Israel as Occupying Power, restrictions on residency are perhaps the most insidious. Human rights law tells us that the family is the natural and fundamental unit of society and is to be protected as such. International humanitarian law informs us that protected persons, namely the Palestinian population in occupied Palestine, are entitled to respect for their person, their honour and their family rights. Despite the applicability of both sets of laws, protection of the right of family unity is absent in practice for many Palestinians. Instead, these protections are replaced with a complex, bureaucratic nightmare of restrictions, quotas, processing freezes, revocations of residency, temporary permits, changing procedures and arbitrary decision making. The cumulative effect of this regulatory maze is to make family unification for Palestinians living in different parts of the occupied territory, namely the West Bank, East Jerusalem and Gaza, a near impossibility. This, in turn, has a devastating impact on the life of Palestinian families and serves to consolidate the fragmentation of Palestine. This report aims to detail the various laws, categories and procedures that compartmentalize Palestinian family life, but within the broader context of displacement. The categories of persons affected by the jumble of rules is considerable. Jerusalemites seeking to marry West Bank ID holders, residents of Gaza seeking to change their place of residence, children of Palestinians born abroad who are not registered in the Palestinian population registry, persons who are ineligible to apply for family re-unification owing to restrictive Israeli conditions, persons who were displaced during the 1967 conflict, children who live with their parents in Jerusalem but who are registered in the population registry covering the West Bank – all of these are just some of the categories of persons impacted by the rules. The report starts by setting out the normative framework for residency rights under international humanitarian and human rights law. It then sets out Israeli policies limiting residency in the West Bank and Gaza Strip before moving on to consider restrictions on residency rights in East Jerusalem. The report concludes with a brief comment on the role of the Palestinian Authority in dealing with family reunification and residency matters. The historical development of the rules and restrictions are detailed, together with the position of Israeli courts on
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