العربية
HE
العربية
HE
In September 2008, the petitioner's mother was hospitalized in critical condition at a West Bank hospital. Due to her serious condition and the fear for her life, the daughter, who lives with her husband and children in the Gaza Strip, submitted an urgent application to allow her and her family to visit the mother. After two weeks, during which the army failed to process the urgent application, the mother passed away, and the petitioner was denied a chance to bid her farewell. On 22 September 2008, the daughter submitted an additional urgent application for a travel permit to the West Bank in order to attend the funeral and grieve with the rest of the family. Two weeks later, HaMoked appealed to the humanitarian desk at the Gaza DCO to inquire why the army failed to respond. The DCO stated that the application was classified as "irrelevant". On 12 October 2008, the petitioner submitted a third application, through the Palestinian Civil Affairs Committee in Gaza. This time, the application was refused on the claim that the petitioner was required to submit the application to the DCO in West Bank and not to the Civil Affairs Committee in Gaza, as her registered address is in the West Bank.
Given the army's negligent and degrading treatment of the petitioner's applications, HaMoked submitted a petition on her behalf on 4 November 2008. The petition stressed that although this was clearly a humanitarian application, the military continued its abuse of the petitioner and her family for many months. The army did not process the first application appropriately, and by doing so, prevented the woman from bidding her mother farewell. The military outdid itself by continually preventing her from leaving Gaza to participate in her mother's funeral and being with her family during the mourning period. The military does not repent its abusive conduct, and adds insult to injury in its response to the petition, where it explains the rejection of the applications by stating that the mother passed away some time ago, and the funeral, as well as the dates on which the petitioner wished to travel to the West Bank – have passed, and therefore the applications were no longer relevant. And if this were not enough, the army admitted that it had contacted the petitioners and suggested they relocate to the West Bank permanently, in exchange for their collaboration.
The hearing held on 3 June 2009 proved that the abuse of the petitioner had not ended. The Court requested that the petitioners submit an amended petition, specifying the events to which the petitioners referred, some of which do not appear in the original petition. The petitioners, who have been waiting for close to a year for the approval of their application to visit the West Bank, will have to be patient and wait for another hearing and a judgment.
To view the amended petition dated 2 July 2009
