Regulation 12 of the Entry into Israel Regulations stipulates that a child who was born in Israel and lives in the country will receive the same civil status as his father, or guardian, unless the other parent objects. The purpose of this regulation,
as held by the High Court of Justice (HCJ), is to prevent a discrepancy between the status of the parent and that of the child, helping to preserve the integrity of the family unit and uphold the principle of the child’s best interest, both of which are fundamental principles in Israeli law.
The HCJ ruled that Regulation 12 also makes an important contribution to promoting and upholding the right of the parent who has status in Israel to raise his child, as well as the independent and autonomous right of the child to live with his parent. Yet still, despite the explicit provision contained in the Regulation, the Ministry of Interior refuses to register the two young children of an East Jerusalem resident as permanent residents, because the father is serving a prison term for a criminal offense.
In 2007, a Palestinian who has permanent residency status in Israel married a resident of the Occupied Palestinian Territories. The two moved to live with the husband’s family in East Jerusalem, where their three children were born. Their firstborn was registered as a permanent resident, like his father. The second son, now three years old, received temporary status (A/5 visa). When the father asked to have his third son, a year and four months old, registered in the Israeli population registry, the Ministry of Interior replied that “the application cannot be reviewed” as the father was serving a prison sentence. The Ministry of Interior also added that owing to the father’s incarceration, the temporary status of the second son would not be extended.
In December 2011, HaMoked filed an administrative appeal against the refusal to register the youngest son and extend the temporary status of the middle son, stressing that a short prison sentence cannot serve as grounds for denying the application. When the Ministry of Interior ignored HaMoked’s arguments, replying to the administrative appeal with the same terse response it gave to the application,
HaMoked appealed against the refusal to
the Foreign Nationals Appeal Committee. This is a committee that works out of the Ministry of Interior itself and has the power to oversee the ministry’s decisions and conduct with respect to child registration.
In the appeal, HaMoked stressed that the children were entitled to permanent status under Regulation 12, not only because it required they be granted the same status as their father, but also because of the status of their grandmother, who had been appointed their guardian, and also has permanent status in Israel. HaMoked added that the children were born in East Jerusalem, had lived there their entire lives and continued to live there with their brother, and their Israeli relatives on their father’s side. HaMoked also asserted that their shared center-of-life with their father continued, through their visits in prison, and was due to resume after the father returned home at the end of his prison sentence in April 2013. HaMoked concluded by pointing out that the father’s right to have his children entered into the population registry remained unchanged during his incarceration and that the refusal to recognize the children as residents due to a forced, limited and short separation from their father did not only blatantly ignore the principle of the child’s best interest, but clearly and deliberately undermined it.
Rather than addressing HaMoked’s arguments regarding the father’s right to have his children registered, the Ministry of Interior requested the appeal be deleted, claiming that the children’s grandmother could submit a new application for them. The appeals committee, which is, as stated, a Ministry of Interior arm,
dismissed the appeal and held that if as the result of his incarceration the father “is separated from his children and does not share a center-of-life with them – he is to blame”.
On October 16, 2012,
HaMoked filed an administrative petition to the court, requesting it to instruct the Ministry of Interior to allow the father to have his children registered as permanent residents of Israel under Regulation 12. HaMoked once again calls on the Ministry of Interior to stop punishing the two young children for their father’s transgressions and grant them status as required by law.
