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del.icio.us Digg It!  new Last update - 13:20 10/12/2007 Institutionalized evil By Haaretz Editorial Tags: Population Administration  It is difficult to remain indifferent to the stories reported in Haaretz recently about foreign widows and widowers whom the Population Administration is trying to deport. Natalia Mueller underwent and as much as completed a gradual naturalization process during more than five years. One day before her husband died, while he was on his deathbed, Mueller came to the Interior Ministry offices to submit her final application for citizenship. There she was told that if her husband died, she would have to leave the country. Since that time she has been in Israel with no legal standing, without a home and without being able to work. Anna Jagnos-Paliashkon, an 80-year-old Holocaust survivor who has undergone heart surgery, has a single, functioning relative who can care for her: Sergei Dzhedan. Her daughter, Dzhedan's wife, died of cancer and Jagnos-Paliashkon's husband is in a geriatric hospital. But the Interior Ministry insists on deporting Dzhedan. Advertisement Mueller and Dzhedan ostensibly meet the criteria the Interior Ministry itself created for naturalization, but nevertheless the body with the Orwellian name - "the Interministerial Committee for Humanitarian Cases" - has decided to deport them both. The Population Administration serves as Israel's substitute for an immigration policy. Israel's real policy is to do everything to block the entry to the country of non-Jews because they are non-Jews. The insufferable bureaucratic bottleneck and the via dolorosa traversed by those seeking naturalization assure that the gates are blocked. It is precisely for this reason that Israel maintains the Population Administration in its shameful situation, as was revealed in a series of reports: with its lack of human resources, untrained personnel and poor facilities. Last Thursday, Jerusalem District Court Judge Judith Tsur ordered the administration to publicize all its regulations within one month. Tsur wrote in her ruling that "for years the Interior Ministry has not followed the law and directives and has not respected court rulings." She also wrote: "I could hardly believe this was truly the situation." Judge Tsur's ruling should shake us to our very foundations. After all, this is a government institution, openly conducting a policy of trampling the law and concealing the rules and regulations by which it operates. In this way it prevents those seeking citizenship or residency from obtaining that which is within their rights. Eight months have passed since the last version of the Citizenship Law was passed, which greatly limits the naturalization of Palestinians married to Israelis. The law ordered the establishment of a committee to deal with humanitarian exceptions, but this has not happened yet. Haaretz today reports on the Supreme Court ruling of last week in which the justices wrote: "We cannot tolerate this ongoing violation of the law." Due to the desire to close Israel's gates to non-Jews, the officials at the Population Administration are ignoring the law, their own regulations and humanitarian considerations, and are creating countless human tragedies. Thus has the administration itself become an apparatus that institutionalizes evil. The fact that we accept this shows how much our hearts have become hard and insensitive. Bookmark to del.icio.us Bored with Israel A study shows U.S. Jews don't feel it's important to care about the Holy Land. League of their own The PA's first unit of policewomen direct traffic in the West Bank.   1.   How on earth? 13:44  |  Steve 10/12/07   2.   Israel is a RACIST STATE & NOT A DEMOCRACY 13:52  |  POP 10/12/07   3.   The BBC online also carries a report on... 15:11  |  Don Camillo 10/12/07   4.   Finally, a Haaretz editorial that I agree with 15:13  |  Sidney 10/12/07   5.   I Agree! 16:03  |  Yosemite 10/12/07   6.   Pop, shut up already, we heard enough. 17:16  |  10/12/07   7.   Thoughtless all the way... 17:19  |  Esther 10/12/07   8.   New definition of NAZI word: Judenrein. 17:29  |  Dutch Dirk 10/12/07   9.   racist pure and simple 17:44  |  edgar 10/12/07   10.   No, Haaretz, YOU are evil, with your calumnies and lies 18:11  |  Jake 10/12/07   11.   wake up jake; truth is bitter but it may well be true 19:01  |  leucippe 10/12/07   12.   Israel; bad example of democracy, public service and human rights 19:07  |  Raul 10/12/07   13.   What is racism according to Israel? 19:08  |  Rasta 10/12/07   14.   #19 Jake 19:58  |  Michael 10/12/07   15.   Jake hasn`t said anything of substance 21:05  |  Marlene N. 10/12/07   16.   Ahh it`s the pills! (to Michael) 21:06  |  Marlene N. 10/12/07   17.   What did Jake say? 23:29  |  José 10/12/07   18.   Redundancies required 23:52  |  Sherlock Holmes 10/12/07   19.   Menschlichkeit 23:56  |  Ben Azai 10/12/07   20.   The worst human tragedy 01:52  |  Marlene N. 11/12/07   21.   What is racism according to Israel you ask 13 02:01  |  Marlene N. 11/12/07   22.   I am mortified at this inhumanity to others 02:37  |  Dutch 11/12/07   23.   Institutionalized evil 05:27  |  Sylvia Zeevi 11/12/07   24.   Institutionalized evil 23:16  |  Michael Glaubman 12/12/07

Today Online Document shows progress on core issues at Camp David summit Responses: 21 Municipality lawyer: J'lem Arab students discriminated against Responses: 115 Shlomo Avineri: U.S. Mideast policy works only if war or talks are already underway Send response Haaretz.com TV: Routine IDF search leaves Palestinian home in shambles Responses: 61 More Headlines 09:08 Document shows progress on core issues at Camp David summit 07:42 Israel-PA talks resume under shadow of Camp David lessons 08:07 Teachers, gov't officials reach deal, students go back to school 05:23 Gov't to Clinton in 2000: Special authority for J'lem's 'holy basin' 08:57 Municipality lawyer: J'lem Arab students discriminated against 08:58 High Court: State must brief court on plans to reinforce Sderot homes 04:26 World Bank: PA economy can't pick up when mobility is limited 02:22 Itching powder delivered to MKs sparks Knesset investigation 03:11 Israeli official: U.S. is not doing enough on Iran nukes Previous Editions Select Day 12 dec 11 dec 10 dec 09 dec 07 dec 06 dec 05 dec 04 dec 03 dec 02 dec 30 nov 29 nov

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