Subscribe to Print Edition | Tue., October 30, 2007 Cheshvan 18, 5768 | | Israel Time: 14:03 (EST+7) web haaretz.com   Back to Homepage Print Edition Diplomacy Defense Arts & Leisure Real Estate Jewish World National Advertising Magazine Week's End Business Opinion Rosner's Domain Anglo File Books Travel

Justice Minister Daniel Friedmann. (Tess Scheflan/BauBau) del.icio.us Digg It!  new Last update - 08:23 28/10/2007 Friedmann: High Court should address Jewish citizenship only By Shahar Ilan, Haaretz Correspondent The High Court of Justice should not review petitions by non-Jews on citizenship issues, Justice Minister Daniel Friedmann recently told the Knesset Constitution, Law and Justice Committee in a request to limit such petitions to the jurisdiction of administrative courts. The committee is expected to decide on the issue on Sunday. If the committee accepts Friedmann's proposal, the High Court of Justice will only rule on immigration matters that pertain to Jews, relatives of Jewish immigrants and collaborators who worked with security services. Friedmann submitted the proposal after consulting Supreme Court President Dorit Beinisch. Advertisement Additionally, if approved, the proposal would mean that the administrative court system will rule on family-unification issues as a first legal instance. Currently, the administrative court system is operating under Israel's district courts. The administrative courts review petitions for the High Court of Justice, which is headed by Beinisch. They were established to free up the High Court of Justice from the need to spend resources on sorting out which petitions merited discussion. At present, the High Court of Justice rules on citizenship matters for Jews and non-Jews alike. The administrative courts, for their part, review only matters that concern residency status. These separate fields of responsibility mean that the High Court of Justice is the body responsible for reviewing family-unification petitions by Arab Israelis, whereas such petitions by Arabs from East Jerusalem - who are not citizens but only residents - are reviewed by the administrative court within the District Court of Jerusalem. The administrative courts and the High Court of Justice review some 4,000 petitions that concern civilian administration issues every year. Friedmann's proposal aims to establish a procedure that would expedite legal treatment of these requests. Legal sources postulated that the proposal to make the administrative courts responsible for reviewing non-Jewish citizenship requests omitted collaborators because of the potential sensitivity of the cases. Friedmann, the sources say, therefore opted to restrict discussion on these matters to Israel's highest legal instance. More Jewish World news and features Bookmark to del.icio.us The killing files A binder in a German office holds details of the systematic mass murder of Jews. Save the children One third of recent sexual assault complaints emerged from Haredi communities.   1.   Jewish citizenship only 11:22  |  Amia Young 28/10/07   2.   I don`t like the HCJ, but Friedman`s wrong this time 14:38  |  David Teich 28/10/07   3.   Friedmann and democracy? 13:55  |  Ruth 30/10/07

Today Online Bradley Burston: It's Judeo-Fascism Month in the state of Israel Responses: 43 IDF's tactical upper hand over Hamas in Gaza is diminishing Responses: 69 Daniel Ben-Simon: PM's courage in disclosing his cancer Responses: 8 Moshe Arens: What the Qassams are costing Israel Responses: 24 40 hurt in clash between police, Druze in Galilee Responses: 19 Rosner's Domain * Churchill became more pro-Zionist when Zionism became less popular in England * WTR: The Christian perspective of Ann Coulter * Is Tikkun Olam a substitute for Israel? * Is Haaretz really better than the New York Times? More Headlines 13:20 40 hurt as police, locals clash in Galilee town over cellular antenna 13:24 Polls after PM cancer revelation: Highest approval since 2006 war 13:00 High Court hears 6 requests to quash Katsav plea agreement 12:58 World's Jewish communities to rally for kidnapped IDF soldiers 11:26 ANALYSIS: Illness and the press / PM's 'prostate speech' 12:06 Syrians stage sit-in to demand Israeli release of prisoners 09:34 IDF's tactical upper hand over Hamas in Gaza is diminishing 06:45 Land deal would have state, JNF swap 60,000 dunams 04:49 Ashrawi: Palestinians face one of most difficult phases in their history 11:02 MK Sharoni ousted from chairmanship of Knesset panel by own party Previous Editions Select Day 29 oct 28 oct 26 oct 25 oct 24 oct 23 oct 22 oct 21 oct 19 oct 18 oct 17 oct 16 oct

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