At the end of protracted legal proceedings (which lasted about eleven months) and after HaMoked submitted an amended petition, in accordance with the court’s request, the petitioner and her children’s application for a time-limited family visit to the West Bank was finally approved. The state attorney’s office announced that the decision to allow passage and permit the visit in the West Bank was an
ex gratia decision, considering the overall circumstances of the case. This vague phrasing – “the overall circumstances of this case” – conceals unacceptable conduct and drastic foot dragging by the military in the handling of this case, which involved urgent, humanitarian circumstances.
In September 2008, the petitioner’s mother was hospitalized in critical condition at a West Bank hospital. Due to her grave 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 the opportunity to bid her farewell. An urgent application to travel to the West Bank, submitted by the daughter in order to participate in the funeral and grieve with her family, was also not processed. When HaMoked appealed to the army to inquire about the fate of the application, the army responded that the application had been branded “irrelevant”.
Given the army’s attempt to avoid the need to process the petitioner’s application and explain its conduct, on 4 November 2008 HaMoked submitted a petition on her behalf, in which it stressed that although this was a clear humanitarian application, not only did the army, due to its defective conduct, prevent the petitioner from bidding her mother farewell, it also continued to mistreat her by denying her the right to grieve with her father and the rest of the family. In response, the army explained its refusal to respond to the applications on the claim that the mother had already passed away and the funeral, as well as the dates on which the petitioner wished to travel – had already passed and therefore the applications “were no longer relevant”. If this were not enough, prior to the hearing held regarding the petition on 3 June 2009, individuals who claimed to be officers from “Erez” contacted the petitioners and suggested that they move to the West Bank permanently in exchange for collaboration with Israeli security forces. An inquiry with the state attorney’s office indicated that the military did not deny doing so.
On 23 July 2009, the day the permit was received, the petitioner and her children reached her father’s house in Tulkarem, and, after the end of the mourning period, in late August, they returned to Gaza. Due to the circumstances of the case, HaMoked requested that the court charge the state with costs.
To view the amended petition submitted on 2 July 2008 (Hebrew) To view the original petition submitted on 4 November 2008 (Hebrew) 
