West Bank Palestinians who lawfully live with their spouses in Israel – by virtue of military stay permits – in the framework the graduated procedure for
family unification, must go through an unreasonable and complicated procedure in order to work in Israel legally. Following the
Citizenship and Entry into Israel Law (Temporary Order) (Amendment), 5765 – 2005, the Ministry of Interior stopped the process of upgrading the status of Palestinian residents whose applications for family unification it had approved, leaving them without status in Israel and in a position of personal, family and social insecurity. They face great difficulties in seeking work needed to support their families, because the reverse of their stay permits displays the following notice: "
this permit does not constitute a permit to work in Israel".
To obtain an Israeli work permit these Palestinians – lawfully present in Israel – must undergo an exhausting process to obtain an Israeli entry permit (!) and to have their employers submit an application to employ them. The personal employment permit involves a protracted procedure vis a vis the interior ministry and the civil administration, and is subject to quotas set for each employer in only a few designated work sectors. The initial role of this procedure concerned Palestinian workers who live in the West Bank and return home daily at the end of their work day in Israel.
HaMoked insistently appealed to the interior ministry and the civil administration, and raised the issues of principle entailed in the matter, but these issues were left unanswered. Therefore,
on September 13, 2011, HaMoked petitioned the High Court of Justice (HCJ) to instruct the Minister of Interior to stipulate that a Palestinian whose family unification application was approved, who lives in Israel by virtue of stay permits, would be entitled to be gainfully employed in Israel unrestricted and without an additional procedure.
HaMoked asserted in the petition that the imposition of this inadequate and cumbersome procedure on Palestinians, who lawfully live in Israel, is substantively arbitrary and unreasonable. The procedure was primarily set to serve a security requirement, with no bearing on Palestinians who live in Israel in the context of the family unification procedure – this, given the fact that their stay permit had been issued only after extensive and rigorous security checks, and that it enable them to travel freely across Israel, regardless.
HaMoked contended further that the Ministry of Interior breaches the principle of equality and discriminates between Palestinians and non Palestinian foreign nationals, also in the process of family unification, but whose stay permit constitutes a work permit and is not limited to specific sectors.
By this administrative means, which Israel applies against Palestinians who lawfully live in Israel for years – by its refusal to integrate a work permit into the family unification permit, and by this application of procedure intended for Palestinians who live in the Occupied Palestinian Territories – infringes on their rights to dignity, equality, livelihood, and freedom of occupation.
