Center for the Defence of the Individual - HaMoked has filed a petition demanding that members of a Palestinian family from the West Bank be granted entry permits to Israel in order to travel to the Gaza Strip and visit the father of the family, who was among the Palestinians removed from the Church of the Nativity in Bethlehem: the military promised to permit such passage in HCJ 10677/04 but has declined to do so in practice, ignoring numerous requests from HaMoked and the appellant
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חזרה לעמוד הקודם
02.07.2007

HaMoked has filed a petition demanding that members of a Palestinian family from the West Bank be granted entry permits to Israel in order to travel to the Gaza Strip and visit the father of the family, who was among the Palestinians removed from the Church of the Nativity in Bethlehem: the military promised to permit such passage in HCJ 10677/04 but has declined to do so in practice, ignoring numerous requests from HaMoked and the appellant

The appellant and her husband married in 1990 and have six children. In May 2002, at the end of the incident in which Palestinians barricaded themselves in the Church of the Nativity in Bethlehem, the husband was removed from their home in Beit Sahur to the Gaza Strip as part of the internationally-brokered agreement. In 2003, the appellant moved to the Gaza Strip with her children, after receiving a permit to enter Israel. In 2005 she applied for permission to cross back to Beit Sahur in order to visit her father, who suffers from heart disease. In August 2006, after intervention by HaMoked, she was permitted to return with her children to their home in the West Bank. They are currently forced to remain in the West Bank. The applicant’s requests to enter Israel in order to return to the Gaza Strip were all rejected, and numerous requests from HaMoked have received no answer from the military over a period of more than four months. 

As part of the proceedings in the High Court of Justice (HCJ) petition HCJ 10677/04, the military promised to enable visits, subject to security prevention. Despite this, the military insists on injuring the fabric of life of the appellants’ family and ignoring their right to a family life – a right that is cardinal and enjoys protection under Israeli law, international humanitarian law, and international human rights law. Through its improper policy and by ignoring requests from the appellant and HaMoked the respondent is also injuring the rights of the appellants’ six children to live with their father, and his right to parenthood, family, and dignity. 

HaMoked further claims that Palestinian residents of the Palestinian Authority have the right to unhampered freedom of movement between the West Bank and the Gaza Strip, which constitute a single territorial unit as manifested in numerous agreements between Israel and the Palestinian Authority. The restriction imposed by the military on the passage of the appellants is also contrary to international law. Article 27 of the Geneva Convention states that protected persons under occupation are entitled in all circumstances to respect for their honor and their family rights; Article 12(A) of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights establishes that “[e]veryone lawfully within the territory of a State shall, within that territory, have the right to liberty of movement and freedom to choose his residence;” Article 13 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights states that every person has freedom of movement and the right to leave and return to his country and to choose his place of residence. 

Read the petition dated 30 May 2007 (Hebrew) 

Read the ruling in HCJ 10677/04 dated 27 December 2004 (Hebrew)

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