Court narrowly upholds 'family reunification' ban

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"The High Court of Justice Sunday narrowly upheld a controversial law that effectively bars some West Bank Palestinians from living with spouses and children in Israel.

The case was seen as one of the most important questions the High Court of Justice has dealt with in recent years - petitions to annul an amendment to the Citizenship Law that prevents "family unifications" of Palestinians married to Arab citizens of Israel.

An expanded panel of 11 justices split 6-5 in rejecting petitions to overturn the law, passed by the Knesset in 2002 and strongly influenced by the violence of the Intifada, then at its height.

In rejecting appeals to the law, the court was seen as stating that Israel has the right to prevent West Bank Palestinians from moving to Israel to unite with their families.

The law states that only Palestinian women over the age of 25 and men over 35 are eligible to join their families in Israel, and eventually receive citizenship. Critics of the law have slammed it as racist and discriminatory, and Amnesty International has called for its repeal."

http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/715699.html


MK Barakeh: High Court ruling supplies 'an alibi for racism'

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"Senior Israeli Arab lawmaker and Hadash party chairman MK Mohammed Barakeh Sunday strongly condemned the High Court of Justice ruling a ban on family reunifications of Israeli Arabs and palestinian spouses, saying that it "gives racism a shady alibi."

MK Ahmed Tibi, who is married to a Palestinian woman from Tul Karm, said that "The High Court of Justice and the Citizenship Law have erected a separation barrier in the midst of the Arab family on the basis of ethnic background, and the separation of husband from wife and parents from children.

"The decision proves that a 'Jewish and Democratic state' is an error in logic and that these two values are inherently contradictory," Tibi said.

According to Barakeh, "The fact that the ruling was opposed by several of the judges is a ray of light that does not illuminate the darkness of the court's decision and the Knesset's legislation.

"Israel's book of laws is becoming, with the High court of Justice's approval, a guide for all post-World War II racist legislation."


http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/715720.html

but some animals are more equal than others ...