The Israeli parliament passed a law yesterday that bars Palestinians who marry Israelis from living in Israel.
The government justified the measure as necessary to fight terrorism but critics say it is intended to cut Palestinian immigration and to coerce Israeli Arabs into leaving the country.
The legal centre for Arab minority rights in Israel, Adalah, was among several groups that denounced the law as ”racist” because it applies only to Palestinian spouses.
Orna Kohn, an Adalah lawyer who is to petition Israel’s supreme court today to block the legislation on the grounds it is unconstitutional, says the law will affect thousands of couples and their children already living in Israel, forcing them to live apart or to leave the country.
”It’s shocking not only because it’s so severe but because it came from the government. In the past there were attempts to pass similar bills but that was done by the extreme right wing,” she said.
The law has also been condemned by Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch, which wrote to knesset members appealing for them to vote against it. But the bill was passed by 53 to 25.
The government justified the law, which must be renewed annually to stay in force, on security grounds.
”This law comes to address a security issue,” said Gideon Ezra, a cabinet minister. ”Since September 2000 we have seen a significant connection in terror attacks between Arabs from the West Bank and Gaza and Israeli Arabs.”
But the government’s own submission to the knesset claims that only 20 Palestinians of the tens of thousands who have obtained residency by marrying Israelis were ”involved in terror”, and it did not specify the charges against them.
Less publicly, the government mobilised support in the knesset by claiming that 140 000 residents of the West Bank and Gaza had gained residency in Israel during the past 10 years.
”They want to prevent more Arabs moving to Israel, but they also hope that more Arab citizens will follow their spouses to the Palestinian territories,” Kohn said. ”It’s about getting rid of Arabs.”
The practical effect of the law will probably be to force Arabs, who account for one in five of the Israeli population, to move to the West Bank or Gaza, although legally it could force husband and wives to live apart.
Israeli citizens, including Arabs, are prevented by law from visiting or moving to those parts of the Palestinian territories defined as ”Area A”, which includes all the major cities and towns.
The law also affects Palestinian residents of East Jerusalem, who are not Israeli citizens. They will be unable to bring their spouses to the city but if they leave, they will lose the right to live in Jerusalem.
The Israeli government also came under fire yesterday for issuing a tender to expand a Jewish settlement in Gaza in defiance of an unequivocal bar on fresh construction by the US-led ”road map” to peace.
The tender to build 22 new homes in Neveh Dekalim — the first such expansion in Gaza in nearly two years — was announced as Ariel Sharon flew back from Washington where he once again assured the US he is committed to the peace process, despite what the Palestinians say is repeated contravention of his road map commitments.
The Palestinian information minister, Nabil Amr, said the move was particularly provocative because Gaza is the crucible of the three-month ceasefire by Hamas and Islamic Jihad: ”This is very dangerous. It is a threat not just to the peace process but the truce. Sharon has to stop this or he will return us to war.”
The tender was issued by the Israeli lands authority with the approval of the prime minister’s office and the defence ministry.
Sharon claims the US has tacitly agreed to allow Israel to expand settlements to accommodate ”natural growth”, such as young couples moving out of the family home. But the road map clearly states that Israel must freeze ”all settlement activity (including natural growth of settlements)”.
In addition, the tender published yesterday says that only 10 of the new homes are intended for existing settlers while the majority will be offered to Israelis who wish to move to Gaza. – Guardian Unlimited Â