Israeli citizenship law blocks Palestinian family reunification
Israel’s Knesset approved a controversial law barring Palestinians' family reunification, furthering the suffering of many Palestinians married to Arabs in Israel.
RAMALLAH, West Bank — The Israel Knesset approved Israel's controversial citizenship law in a 45-15 vote on March 10. The law denies West Bank and Gaza Palestinians married to Palestinians in the 1948 territory (Arabs of Israel) the right to gain citizenship or residency status.
The law affects thousands of Palestinian families, as it prohibits any man or woman from the West Bank and Gaza married to an Israeli citizen from living in Israel and requires them to obtain temporary residence permits issued by the Israeli Ministry of Interior.
Sami Abu Ali, 43, from the Gaza Strip, married his cousin in the Negev region, in the south of Israel, in 2001. He fears he would be separated from his family in Beersheba and deported to the Gaza Strip because he does not have residency.
He told Al-Monitor, “I got married in 2001, and I was living with my family in Beersheba without a residency permit. In 2009, the Israeli police arrested me. And when they learned that I was from Gaza, they deported me to Gaza. I was forced to stay there away from my family for 10 years.”
