For years HaMoked has waged a
persistent legal battle against the Ministry of Interior's inconceivably rigid position not to grant status in Israel to a young Palestinian woman who had been found as a newborn baby on the doorstep of a Jerusalem orphanage and has been living in the city all her life, without status anywhere in the world.
In August 11, 2014,
HaMoked appealed to the Appeals Tribunal to instruct the interministerial committee to comply with the decision of the appellate committee and immediately give the young woman Israeli status. In the appeal, HaMoked argued that the committee's lack of response violated the rules of proper governance and violated her right to family life, and that this failure to arrange her status was in breach of Israel's obligations under international law.
On October 28, 2014,
the Ministry of Interior notified HaMoked of its decision to give the young woman an A/5 temporary residency permit for one year, at the end of which, her continued status in Israel would be examined. HaMoked demanded the Tribunal impose trial costs on the interior ministry and stressed that it took a whole year (!) for the interministerial committee to reach a decision.
The Appeals Tribunal ordered the Ministry of Interior to pay ILS 10,000 in trial costs "if only in consideration of the delay in justice", and even hinted that the young woman's ordeal should end with her becoming a permanent Israeli resident.
