Image by MENAHEM KAHANA/AFP via Getty Images

Written By Dana Nazha

“The right to live in peace, safety, and dignity with one’s own family, to choose the person with whom they wish to form a family, is a fundamental right that Israel continues to strip Palestinians of,” said The Jerusalem Legal Aid Center. “It has torn Palestinian families apart, subjecting them to perpetual fear, separation, and uncertainty,”.

On March 10th this year, the Israeli parliament approved a restrictive citizenship law that denies Palestinian of the West Bank or Gaza married to Palestinians in the 1948 territory the right to gain citizenship or residency status. As a result, Palestinians of the West Bank and Gaza married to Palestinians with Israeli citizenship, would be required to request temporary residence permits to be able to live with their families meaning that the restrictive law denies Palestinians with Israeli citizenship and Palestinians of the West Bank and Gaza, from being able to live together in an area of their choice. 

This law, locally known as the “family reunification law” was first passed in 2003 and was reaffirmed annually until July 2021. While the law expired in 2021, it was still enacted and was officially renewed again this year. In fact, the Arab citizens of Israel account for 21% of the population, they are still subject to Jewish supremacism. Furthermore, estimates say that the family reunification law affects 25,000 to 30,000 Palestinian families. 

To illustrate the hardships caused by this citizenship law, the story of Lana and Tayseer can be taken into account. Tayseer Khatib from the city of Akka, holds Israeli citizenship and got married to his wife Lana from the West Bank. Lana had been living with her husband in Akka based on six-month permits that need to be constantly renewed under a complicated process. 

“The impact of the law is devastating especially that families are being separated and fragmented,” mentioned Khatib. “And even when the couple is together, they have no horizon to develop and there is no guarantee that they will be able to stay together. You live in a constant state of paranoia” he added. 

Palestinians living on stay permits are also restricted from accessing health or any social benefits. They are not allowed to work, open bank accounts, buy property, or even travel freely. 

According to Khatib, over the past 15 years, his wife couldn’t work even though she has a degree in economics. She even couldn’t go about her life normally- to drive, go out to work, or have an active role in the community like any other woman. 

As Lana always says: “In Jenin, even under the Israeli military tanks, I had more freedom than I do living in this state, which claims to be a democracy, so It’s like a prison for me here”. 

The Jerusalem Legal Aid Center (JLAC), a human rights organization that helps families apply for reunification, describes the law as a “major pillar in Israel’s apartheid regime”.  In fact, the main goal of the law is to ensure Jewish demographic superiority, by restricting the naturalization of Palestinians in the West Bank and Gaza. 

While some families were able to get residency permits to temporarily live together, other families were completely pulled apart by the reunification law. In an interview with Al-Monitor, Abu Ali said: “Seven of my cousins who are married to relatives in the Negev are facing the same predicament. One of them has been separated from his family in the Negev for 15 years after he was deported back to Gaza. His wife visits him in Gaza once every five months. His daughter will marry soon, but he will not be able to attend her wedding.”

After the law expired in July 2021, 2,800 requests for family reunification were filed, and only 77 were approved. In reality, the family reunification law is just one law out of hundreds that discriminate against Palestinians based on their race, ethnicity, language, or origin. Palestinian are aware that the law exists, yet the law would never prevent them from getting married and falling in love with someone across the border.