In November 2012, in response to a
petition filed by HaMoked, (HCJ 6615/11 Salhab et al. v. Minister of Interior et al.), the State declared that Palestinian residents of the OPT who have Israeli stay permits given as part of the family unification procedure would be able to work in any sector without having to obtain any further permit and that the permit they are issued would bear the inscription “This permit allows its holder to work in Israel”. In accordance with the state’s pledge, the army began issuing Palestinians the new permits back in January of 2013.
However, on October 28, 2014,
HaMoked had to send an urgent letter to the Legal Advisor for the West Bank after coming across a significant number of stay permits that did not include the inscription. HaMoked stressed that the omission of the explicit permission to work put many Palestinians at risk of losing their jobs immediately and impeded the ability of others to work and make a dignified living in Israel. HaMoked added that it was a brazen breach of the arrangement achieved in the Salhab case.
On November 2, 2014,
the legal advisor wrote back that “the inscription […] had indeed been omitted from the new version of the permits to enter Israel for the purpose of family unification as a result of an error […] The defect has been corrected recently and the permits will bear the aforesaid inscription henceforth”. The letter also stated that “Residents of the Judea and Samaria Area who have the version of the permit omitting the inscription may replace it at their local DCO, as per their registered address”.
