Israel and Palestine continue to work on their mutual destruction, judging from current events--six Palestinians were killed today, in response to an attack, last month, that killed eleven Israelis. Nothing new there. What is a little out of the ordinary is the controversy over a bit of Israel law that has just been extended. The Israel Citizenship law was amended in 2002 to prevent Palestinians from moving into the country as spouses of Arab Israelis. Since there are over a million Arabs who are citizens of Israel, almost 20% of the total population, the amendment affects a lot of families. All the more so because there are a lot of close family ties between Israel Arabs and the 3.8 million Palestinians living in West Bank and Gaza.
The measure was put in place in 2002. At the time there was a lot of fear in the air, thanks to the Palestinian uprising in 2000. The fear of terrorists finding their way into Israel via marriage has not diminished. If anything, having Hamas as the new authority of Palestine has set the Israel government on high alert. However, the issue is controversial, as evidenced by the narrow margin by which the measure was upheld(6-5!). While Justice Cheshin, one of the supporters, argued that Hamas is enough of a threat to justify the law, not everyone agreed.
"This violation of rights is directed against Arab citizens of Israel," said Chief Justice Barak. Even ignoring the discrimination against Arabs, the law cuts into human rights. The UN Human Rights Committee has a whole list of reasons why people are supposed to have the right to marry, and at least a few comments on how that entails being able to live together.
In some ways, it seems that discouraging family unity is the worst thing a country desirous of peace with its neighbors could do. But trading freedom for safety is a long standing tradition all over the world.
how horrible for them.
It's like the Alien and Sedition Acts. They're a new country; they'll learn.
--Mike