Palestinian Jerusalemites go work abroad and get residency revoked upon return
Palestinians who choose to study and work abroad are finding out - too late - that they have imperiled their right to return to their hometown.
By Amira Hass Tags: Israel news Jerusalem Palestinians East JerusalemPalestinians who choose to study and work abroad are finding out - too late - that they have imperiled their right to return to their hometown.
Last Wednesday afternoon a "shabah," an illegal sojourner, sat in the small conference room of Jerusalem District Court Judge Noam Solberg. That's how he was described by Solberg and a representative of the Interior Ministry, attorney Gur Rosenblatt. The illegal resident reads and writes Hebrew, but in the small room he had difficulty following the learned claims of the judge to the effect that a person born in Jerusalem's neighborhood of Sur Baher 43 years ago, whose parents and grandparents and great-great grandparents are from there, who went to elementary school and high school in Jerusalem, who recently paid NIS 120,000 for a construction permit from the Jerusalem municipality, is an illegal sojourner. In other words, a criminal.
Meet the criminal: Dr. Imad Hammada. He's a father of three, with a fourth on the way. Married to a nurse who works for the Leumit HMO in Jerusalem. This biography includes other elements that could sound very Israeli: studied electrical engineering in the United States and worked in Silicon Valley to pay for his doctoral studies and to get experience. Speciality: nanotechnology (a nanometer is one billionth of a meter ). Frequent visits to his family at home, in Jerusalem.
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Dr. Imad Hammada and his wife at his graduation ceremony in the United States. |
True, his stay abroad lasted longer than expected, from 1989 to 2007. That's familiar to us, too. Now, three months after receiving his doctorate, in August 2007, he and his family packed their suitcases and returned home, a year after he received American citizenship. An Israeli company and an American company with a branch in Israel wanted to employ him and changed their minds. The Interior Ministry informed them that he was a tourist.
Tourist? How come? That is how he discovered that the Interior Ministry had revoked his residency status. Through attorney Leah Tsemel he petitioned the Jerusalem District Court sitting as a Court for Administrative Matters, against the revocation of his permanent residency permit. For the past three years he has been living in his homeland, in his city, in his parents' home - without health insurance for the children, without rights, in constant danger of arrest and expulsion.
"The prolonged illegal stay in the country is to the detriment of the petitioner," said Judge Solberg in a stern voice. He said that it could be a reason for rejecting the petition out of hand. In the corridors of the District Court on Salah al-Din Street it was said that as opposed to liberal judges David Cheshin and Yehudit Tzur, who have left, Solberg is known for summarily rejecting similar petitions. It turns out that this time Solberg had inner conflicts, as he put it.
It's natural to go abroad
On the one hand, he said, the illegal stay causes us "to say that this is a reason for rejecting the petition out of hand." On the other hand, the judge said: "It's natural that people go [abroad] to study and stay for a while. There's room for a certain amount of forgiveness when you read that the man works in Herzliya (for a Taiwanese company with a branch in Ramallah ) and his wife works.... My initial feeling is that his connection with Israel is sincere."
Attorney Rosenblatt mentioned the "illegal stay" of the petitioner several times. Tsemel objected: This argument has not come up until now. My client entered legally and was born here and you know that it's his right to be here. In principle, said Rosenblatt, "he can leave the court and be arrested by a policeman because he's an illegal sojourner." And Tsemel: "In principle he can leave the court and be arrested because he's an Arab."
Solberg tried to calm things down. He said he was actually seeking a compromise. Let the petition be erased, he suggested, and let Dr. Hammada ask to begin a proceeding for "family reunification" (with his wife ). The parties had to reply by today. Afterward, next to the stairs, Rosenblatt would explain to Tsemel that it was nothing personal, but that he was operating according to the law.
The 1952 Law of Entry into Israel determines that anyone who is not an Israeli citizen or the holder of an immigrant's permit or immigrant's certificate does not have the right to live in Israel, and his residency in Israel is conditional on a residency permit that has been granted to him according to this law." The Law of Entry was imposed on Palestinians living in that part of the West Bank - East Jerusalem and the surrounding villages - that was annexed to Israel in 1967. "Israel entered us," bitterly say the people to whom the Law of Entry applies, "It wasn't we who entered it." Solberg mentioned that there is logic to the statement that the case of a (non-Jewish ) Frenchman who immigrated to Israel is not the same as the case of a Palestinian who was born in Jerusalem. But it wouldn't be right, he said, to discuss the matter of principle in connection with the present petition.
In addition to the Law of Entry there are regulations for entry into Israel which stipulate that the expiration of the permanent residency permit: A person will be considered to have settled abroad if one of the following conditions exists: he lived outside Israel for a period of at least seven years; he received a permanent residency permit in that country; he received citizenship of that country. One of the three conditions is sufficient to revoke the resident status of a Palestinian in East Jerusalem.
Until the end of 1995, the authorities were flexible and made do with visits by those living abroad at intervals shorter than "seven years of absence" in order to maintain residency. But in December 1995, during the term of Haim Ramon as interior minister in the short-lived government of Shimon Peres, the policy changed. Without previous warning, people who lived abroad but came for frequent visits discovered that their resident status had been revoked. A prolonged public battle - which involved Palestinian, Israeli and international organizations - created pressure that produced results early in 2000, when the interior minister was Natan Sharansky. In a declaration to the Supreme Court, he promised that the policy would revert to the pre-1995 practice. For those living abroad for any reason, their periodic visits would once again maintain their residency, whereas those who had lived abroad in the past (or who were living, for lack of housing, in a part of the West Bank that had not been annexed to Israel ) would get back their residency status if they proved that the center of their lives was in Jerusalem. With the outbreak of the second intifada in 2000, the Interior Ministry resumed mass revocation of the permanent residency status of East Jerusalem Palestinians.
Imad Hammada is one of 289 Jerusalemites whose residency was revoked in 2007. In 2008, the residency of Murad Abu-Khalaf, 33, a native of Ras al-Amud, who has a doctorate in electrical engineering, was revoked. His family lived in the Baka neighborhood in West Jerusalem, from which it was expelled in 1948. The eight pages of his resume include a series of scientific publications, areas of expertise, fields of research, lectures, awards and prestigious places of work. In 2007, he completed his post-doctorate (with a stipend from the research division of the U.S. Army ). He also visited his family periodically. He knew that upon his return it was likely that he would not be hired for work in Israeli firms, and that he would teach at university. "I wanted to get some experience in the professional world outside the university," he said two days ago in a phone conversation from his Boston home.
An engineer in Boston
Since 2007, he has been working as a software engineer in an American firm in Massachusetts, The MathWorks, whose clients are the aircraft industry and security firms, including Israeli ones such as Rafael. The U.S. requires those employed in its security industry to receive a green card. This is not permanent residency for family reasons, or that of an asylum seeker - but for purposes of work only, emphasized Abu-Khalaf in the conversation. "Had I known that a green card would lead to the revocation of my right as a resident of Jerusalem, I would have returned after the post-doctorate. But what could I have done then, without practical experience? Sold falafel?"
Deliberations on Abu-Khalaf's petition will take place in his absence before Solberg next Thursday. Since January 2009, Abu-Khalaf has been seeking legal redress, also with the help of attorney Tsemel. His frequent but short visits (because of job commitments ) in 2009 did not satisfy the authorities. The validity of his travel document expired in January 2010. Since then, he hasn't seen his parents and his brother. His entire family lives in Jerusalem. His father is a family doctor, his brother is a doctor who works at Shaare Zedek Medical Center in Jerusalem. He lives in Boston and he misses his friends and the streets of his childhood.
Attorney Achva Berman, an assistant to the Jerusalem District Prosecutor's Office, explained her opposition to permitting his return to Israel: "The policy of the Interior Ministry is a consequence of the sovereignty of the state and its exclusive authority to decide who can remain in its territory. For that purpose stringent criteria were determined, based on weighty humanitarian considerations... The acquisition of the status of a permanent resident in another place in the world... is what leads to the expiration of residency... In recent years (the petitioner ) has even been working in the U.S. By doing so the petitioner severed his connection with Israel."
Abu-Khalaf is one of 4,577 Jerusalemites whose residency was revoked in 2008, according to the data provided by the Interior Ministry to the Center for the Defense of the Individual. That is the highest number of residency revocations since the policy began in 1995. The previous record was in 2006 - 1,363 people whose residency status expired. In 1995, the number was 91. In 1996, the number 739. In 1997, there were 1,067 cases. In 1991, the number was 20.
It's believed that the vast majority of cases are people like them - Jerusalemites who went abroad for reasons of higher education and work experience, with the aim of returning after acquiring that experience and funding - intending to ameliorate the quality of their society. Expelling them from their country and from their hometown is the other side of the statistics of poverty and misery that typify Palestinian Jerusalem, which is under Israeli control.
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Dr. Murad Abu-Khalaf during one of his visits back to his native Jerusalem. |
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Lives in a country where the Irish have killed more Irish because they are a different religion than Israel has killed more Palestinians. YOU live in a racist country.
keep it up Israel keep showing your true face and intentions, the world can only be deceived for so long. You know I just sometimes wonder is Israel really that DUMB!!!!!!!!!
In today's issue, an article tells about a Palestinian denied re-entry into Israel where his family has lived for generations. Here's what I wrote: I wish that same judge could feel what those Palestinians were feeling. Imagine if the shoe was on the other foot and an Arab judge was refusing a Jew the right to continue his/her life in Israel because they had been away for too long a time. How about 2,000 years judge? We Jews, and Zionists like me, say that's not too long to end our right to live in the land. BUT when it's a Palestinian, well, 20 years outside the country and you're a criminal for wanting to come back.
This is nothing short of a shadow form of ethnic cleansing. Those Israel supporters who argue that Israel is no apartheid? Look at the fact that an Arab who goes abroad loses his residency, but the residency of a Jew is never taken away. That is the definition of apartheid.
This is simple. If you have American citizenship and you acquire the citizenship of another country you relinquish your American citizenship. If you're a citizen of some other place and you want to acquire American citizenship the you should be required to renounce your citizenship in that other place. You should not be allowed to have it both ways.
I am overwhelmed by the response and the surprise of the readers of haaretz. Unfortunatelly what I wrote is correct. The absolute majority of the parents and grandparents of arabs, residing today in former palestine are from the tribes of saudia, syria, egipt etc.. Same applies to absolutelly all the arabs, currently citizens of Jordan. They all moved to Palestine after a fight and loss with one of the dominant tribes of the saudi peninsula. For you guys that really are interested in the truth, please look into the current statistics. When Israel started to build the anti-terrorist barrier, 140 thousand arabs immediately obtained Israeli residency. They used the family reunification manouver. If life is so great in arab countries, then why did they not get reunified there ???? Please remember that the truth is unavoidable.
lloking at your name I presume from Russia. On what argumenets yu are basing you israeli right to be on stolen land ? Is it because your grand grand grandfather had a German shepherddog? were yo
... all countries should send all the Jews to Israel (now that they pretend it is the place they belong) and replace them by the Palestinians who would benefit of the same rights as Jews. But you know that the Holy Land is a special place that soon vomits all those whom behaviour doesn't suite to It... And I just read in the Bible that the Jews returned to the Haaretz as returning into captivity because of their willing to be together in their solitude; but that Haaretz can't be the drawer of all the large varieties of Jewry. It will come to saturation. Isn't this why the sionist government has for long planned to extend their territory into a "Big Israel", which means untill Euphrate?
what a sad racist country - racist, aggressive, and ironically constantly pleading to the international community that it is a victim. The more the outside world looksat Israel the more they are repulsed.
If an ultra orthodix who does not recognize Israel (i.e. NetureyKarta) comes to Israel to be a parasite on us, he can get israeli citizenship, while this man who is contributing to us cannot be a citizen? I am ashemed to be an Israeli now...
They returned last year - absolutely no problem. Perhaps there is more personal information that was not given that affected this decision; then again maybe they got a miserable person at the ministry - I did & I'm Jewish, and then saw someone else and all was fine.
Maybe the people you're talking about have actual Israeli passports. However, the reason here is pretty obvious i.e. to cleanse the Palestinians from Jerusalem. Land confiscation, refusal to grant building permits, revoking residency permits and the list goes on.
... in this case, immigration and citizenship seems to work pretty arbitrarily in Israel?... With an extremely unfortunate anti-Arab slant, it seems.
The Palestinians inside the Green Line who are Israeli citizens have nothing to do with this. It is the Jerusalemites. The Government wants them all out so that Jerusalem will be the Capital without Palestinians.
If Israel / Palestine wants to be part of the modern world, then this man is someone you need. Many foreigners get degrees and stay in the US. They raise families, and their children are tyical Americans. That's how the US grows. If this man wants to bring his skills home, then that benefits everyone in his home country -- no matter where politicians draw their boundaries. Consider yourselves lucky. Shake his hand nd welcome him.
John - They want all Palestinians out, this is ethnic cleansing. They are in a hurry to re-settle Jerusalem..
Is the State also going to cancel the citizenship of all Israeli Jews holding dual citizenship? Cause there will be no one left in the country...
Stealing someone's citizenship and forbiding him from living in his country is not oànly a gross violation of human rights, it is also morally repugnant.
I wish that same judge could feel what those Palestinians were feeling. Imagine if the shoe was on the other foot and an Arab judge was refusing a Jew the right to continue his/her life in Israel because they had been away for too long a time. How about 2,000 years judge? We Jews, and Zionists like me, say that's not too long to end our right to live in the land. BUT when it's a Palestinian, well, 20 years outside the country and you're a criminal for wanting to come back. G'valt!
This is just another facet of Israeli racism. I believe that Israel should be suspended from the UN until it learns how to behave like a civilized nation.
Infact, Israel should LEAVE the UN considering how the world is now seeing how racist the UN is. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Israel,_Palestine,_and_the_United_Nations
He could of taken Israeli citizenship (when he was a resident), as any Arab resident of East Jerusalem can, and there would be no problem even if he lived abroad for 100 years. But these clowns refuse to take Israeli citizenship, and then cry when residency status is revoked after 20 years of absence.
the Israeli citizenship on the Palestinians of East Jerusalem. It is recognized by every International Law that E:J. is an occupied Territory and Israel has no right to do what she is doing there.
Yeh, right, like he should recogniseIsrael's annexation of East jerusalem. Apparently, you would not have any difficulty not accepting the same offer made to those zionists that have colonised the WB, leave for a time to the States and return and are denied residency unless they take palestinian citizenship.
haven't you heard? there is no such thing as an Israeli citizen. only israeli jews and israeli arabs. perhaps this man would not like to be pigeonholed by your quasi-racist society.
Nothing in this gentleman´s CV proves him a "clown" - right? Whereas your comment speaks volumes.
although you tugs took it
Then allow me to say that it sucks. It is a racist unfair fake country! It is as if I am saying to a Jew who was born in Lebanon, that he is no more Lebanese and can't live in his homeland because he is of different religion or ethnicity or anything else than the majority! Or due to the fact that he did not reside in Lebanon for the last 20 years... I refuse that argument and I will never wish to my Jewish co-citizens to ever experience that in our country and Land! Even the Lebanese law protects the Lebanese Jewish minority and this is how I myself helped one of my friends to renew her papers lately! What a shame on this Land, the Land of Israel, the land that call itself Holly! And if you keep this way, be assured that you will vanish one day. This is the fate of unfair cultures through history! Although you were and still are racists and unfair to most others, I will still be sad for you on this day! Jean-Pierre Zahar
I have my german citizenship. If I would get another citizenship I would have to give the german one. So after that I would be a tourist in Germany. If an spanar guy gets a german citizenship he has to give his spanish one....So what is the point here? only Israel should be pointed out ?? what a crap!!! Haaretz, why you just don't accept your anti-israel bias!!!
It is my first time to hear that citizenships are mutually exclusive. You stop hypocrisy.
that there are two laws. One for Palestinians and one for Israelis. Imad's Jewish neighbor would never loose his Israeli citizenship no matter how many new citizenships he/she quires. This is plain Vanilla racism,
If the same law applied to both jews and Palestinians then you,re right, but a jew can have two or may be three citizenship including the Israeli one and that is fine , but a palestinian loses his residency in Jerusalem automatically ASA he acquires another.
Excuse me, dear Marcelo, but what IS a "spanar guy"? I never heard of such a fellow. -- Next, you are misinformed about citizenships. Most European countries allow double citizenships. Even Denmark does - if you hold an American citizenship. So does Italy.
No freedom to express one's opinion either in this so-called democracy. My comment was never posted and no one was given the opportunity to vote on it... SHAME !!
... when I wrote mine, the site posted 17 comments - and mine was posted as no. 46... Maybe yours is further along the line?...
A hypothetical. Avi Abitboul is an Israeli citizens who has lived in Brookln, NY for the past 28 yrs. He runs an Israeli style grocery in Brooklyn in a neighbour hood filled with Israelis. His son, Doron,who was born in Jerusalem but grew up in US, studied in NYC and had been working there until he was laid off. He now is returning to Israel where his mothers brother has hired him to work for his construction firm building units in the occupied territories where his uncles family lives. How would this judge Solberg and this Berman woman judge Doron's status as upon his return? Not hard to guess. Racism serves as Bermans basis in the law. Another myth of Israel's "democracy". Do not confuse an ethnocracy for democracy. Lies, hypocracy and deception, the pillars of Israel's "democracy".,
What lowly and criminal upstarts the justices are. I don't know how you can take that shocking dismissal of Palestinian rights over there. It's all soo bloody criminal in my book and it violates all fundamental of elementary of justice, international covenants and of course human rights. I know my American friends and neighbors have had it with such Israeli arrogance and I doubt you will exist as a people or a state in the coming decade with such carry on.... Who in their right mind is going to uphold such a state? Especially, with all the American states in the red. Israel isn't worth the extra cost & suffering any-more. That's going to be my message over here as well....Dutch
More than 4000 revokatins alone in 2008. Does this look like the Israeli government is keen on systematically ousting their Palestinian citizens from East Jerusalem? Of course not. And there is no way that this could be strategically motivated. It has absolutely nothing to do with the Israleli government's plans to make East Jerusalem a purely Jewish area. Honni soi, qui mal y pense.
I learned from Israeli friends that whenever a Jewish Israeli returns home after a longer period of living and working in a foreign country they will be treated as Olim and receive very generous integration grants from the state that allow them to find a good job, rent a comfortable apartment and live on state benefits for an extended period of time....
I learned from Israeli friends that whenever a Jewish Israeli returns home after a longer period of living and working in a foreign country they will be treated as Olim and receive very generous integration grants from the state that allow them to find a good job, rent a comfortable apartment and live on state benefits for an extended period of time....
then highly education israelis from arab decent. What a pity that a nation is more focusing on overly religious people who are too lazy to work and pay taxes and not even consider Israel a state. While the highly educated arabs want to contribute to a successful nation. Shame on you Israel.
What else can one expect from this country. This is so ridiculous I don't really know what to say. I've known about this issue for some time already. It is simply the greatest nonsense I have ever heard. People who were born here, who may have lived here for generations, are suddenly blocked from returning just because they were abroad for work or studies. Would the same thing happen to a Jew? Why do they do this, just to Arabs? Does Israel hate Arabs? Is Israel a racist country?
Where was his family from two thousand years ago....Muslims don't hae the right of return. It is recognizing that Jews wre exiled from their homeland two thousnad years ago by both Greeks and Romans that justified the law of return, Dna proes we Jews, are Jews in exile, the Arabs are recent emigres unless they are Cannanites.
The Palestinians are the 800,000 inhabitants of the 500 towns destroyed by Ben-Gurion and his cronies to make way for a Jewish State. The maps were changed also so that people like you could preach your revised history.
South Africa had the same policy for blacks, that israel does today
This is a great article, but the obvious rebuttal to it is: if these families have been living since 1967 in 'Israel' (i.e. the East Jerusalem areas annexed by Israel) but want to guarantee their right to continue living in East Jerusalem, why don't they en mass apply for citizenship. I know that this would in effect recognise Israel's annexation, but they do this each time they go to an Israeli court to defend their rights. Tactically, if the PA allowed its East Jerusalem residents to apply, there would be no hint of collusion.
In my opinion Solberg and Rosenblatt and the Ministers responsible for this travesty should be fired.
While Israel doesn´t allow its own people to return after study, germany makes it easy for Jews from Russia whose ancesters (!) lived in germany - even if this was some hundred years ago - to get german citizenship. Another proof for the Israel being a banana republic...
You seem to forget a little detail: Germany is making amends for a racist ideology carried out in the German name (and mostly by Germans) some time ago. Israel, on the contrary, is using double standards: Jews from all over the world are considered "it's own people", while native Jerusalemites can forfeit their citizenship status very easily if they happen not to match the ruling majority's definition of "our own people". Right wing Israelis are in fact very envious of the fact that a great number of Russian Jews prefer Germany as they would rather have them contribute to their Jewish demographic policy in Israel.
You seem to forget a little detail: Germany is making amends for a racist ideology carried out in the German name (and mostly by Germans) some time ago. Israel, on the contrary, is using double standards: Jews from all over the world are considered "it's own people", while native Jerusalemites can forfeit their citizenship status very easily if they happen not to match the ruling majority's definition of "our own people". Right wing Israelis are in fact very envious of the fact that a great number of Russian Jews prefer Germany as they would rather have them contribute to their Jewish demographic policy in Israel.
that the Palestinians hate the Zionists so much?
looks like ethnic cleansing to me.
What amazes me is that the East European countries that joined the EU in the past few years have restores citizenship and passports to everyone that proves that even his grandparents where originally from those countries. And what surprises me most is that thousands of Israeli Jews have obtained passports on these grounds. Under Israel's democracy, the indigenous Palestinian Arabs of Jerusalem are not Jewish, so the laws applicable to the Goyim are enforced. So much for being a Jewish democracy and claiming the high moral ground. And by the way, good luck with your Jewish Hamas.
in which century are we living? where in the world are citizens deprived of their citizenship? Oh, i forgot. that happens in the exclusive democracy of israel. it seems we are still living in the dark ages.
Unfortunately, his parents/grandparents must have been among those who refused the offer of Israeli citizenship because they prefered not to recognize Israel. Life would have been different if they had been less rejectionist. There are other countries in the world where residency status is revoked if prolonged periods are spent abroad, eg Canada. There are other countries in the world where citizenship is revoked when citizenship of another country is awarded. In Baka, there are Arab owned properties (that refuse rental by Jews), and there are still many non-Jewish residents of the neighbourhood who did not flee in 1948 and remain in their homes.
Reading this sort of story, one wants to weep. This is shameful,and counter-productive to creating a prosperous and peaceful society. With policies like this, no wonder why the rest of the world looks down upon us and calls us an aparthied state. Jerusalem in particular is anything but united (I say this as a Jewish resident of the city). It is more divided than Berlin during the cold war (when it was split into four sectors, but at least three of those were semi-joined up).
.Before you ding a lings get all riled up it would be prudent to know hoe the state treats Jews that have emigrated from Israel with "questionable" status. As an American citizen with permanent status (i was born here and seved in the Army), upon my return after 10 years i was told that my status had been revoked and was considered a tourist. The beareaucratic nighmare that ensued was not unlike the story above. Here there are also elements of East Jerusalemites that refuse citizenship. Ms Hass will never tell you that the Israeli Ministry of Interior treats all folks regardless of ethnic backgroun........badly.....very badly Not an issue of discrimination here so everybody cool down. Amira never found an issue in her life that was not Israel bashing. I wonder what civic status she has???...
why is the state of israeli taking parts of jerusalem away from the people living there ? simply because it thinks it can... time will tell if the right decisions are being made.
that great bastion of democracy, tolerance, fairness, justice for all, keepers of the great traditions. This is so repugnant there are almost no words for it. Reminds me of the American south in the 50's, South Africa during apartheid, Germany in the 30's. Is it any wonder that your country disgusts most of the civilized world?
When Israel annexed E Jerusalem in 1967, Palestinians were given an opportunity to become Israeli citizens. Most declined and were granted permanent residency which grants all rights of citizenship, except voting in national elections. Hammada does not want Israeli citizenship, but did become an American citizen. Why should he be granted the right to live in Jerusalem? And, for those saying it would not happen to a Jew - most Jews are citizens, not permanent residents. Why should Israel allow Hammada and all the others whose status has been revoked to continue to enjoy the benefits of Israel's generous social system, when he so clearly does not want to be an Israeli? Let him live and work in the US, since he did choose citizenship there.
Will you apply the same standard to all the Israeli Yordim who have spent years living and working in the US, and have American citizenship? Will you say, "Don't come back?" even to those who have helped build Israel, and fought in its wars?
1 he was born there 2 his wife and kids live there 3 he denied citizenship because he lives under occupation. 4 he can trace is family linkage hundreds of years back. 5 he would not have the same rights as Jews do in Jerusalem even if he became a citizen for example Jewish only settlements 6 it is the moral thing to do for him and all Palestinians 7 It is a form of ethnic cleansing I can go on I hope you got my point
How can people who tell that they have all their lives dreamed of living in Jerusalem, throw other people out of Jerusalem where they were born? Is Jerusalem so meaningless to you that you can't value people who have born there? Is it all about the money and building permits? Don't people mean anything to you anymore?
Same thing happened to a friend of mine who was born in England, grew up in Australia, married and had children there, studied medicine, worked as a doctor in Sydney for years, went overseas for a holiday, and then couldn't get back into Australia as he had a British passport. All sorted out by his wife whilst he had to stay in Fiji.
At the end of the day, the only way to solve the conflict is partition. About 50K Palestinians in Jerusalem are east of the security fence. Obviously Israel is afraid to put ethnically mixed neighborhood of the East side, but hopefully in the future more all Palestinian neighborhoods can be put on the east side. This will alleviate these types of problems, because Arabs will not need Israeli residency, only Palestinian citizenship to access these areas. The problem from Israel's perspective is that residency allows access to all of Israel.
The problem is the while small Jewish lobby has a lot of influence due to spending tons of money and job offers. Muslim countries owns lots of stock in US companies, more than Jewish groups but with change in corp. laws and able to give campaign money now, if they focus they could shift power in US.
My understanding is that East Jerusalem residents have the option for citizenship or am I wrong about that? If he does not have this option, taking away residency is immoral and not suitable for a true democracy.
It is theoretically possible, but brings practical difficulties. For one thing as citizens they would be legally barred from visiting Ramallah and Bethlehem, to which many have family connections. If the peace process collapses then yes I expect many to actively pursue citizenship, but at the moment they are hanging onto the status quo in anticipation of a two state solution.
A real Jewish joke. "A resident in your own place of birth." Maybe Americans should look at this more closely? Salaam/Shalom
To one the God promises the land and to the other the man denies.Beauty of Mankind. Lets move beyond religions and be Humans
and a Palestinian born there can't? If this isn't a racist state what is? A classic example of ethnic cleansing
Israel does not need anyone else to make themselves look bad. They are doing a good job all by themselves. They should feel honored that such a person has obtained such a higher education would even consider living in such a place.
We personally have no use for anyone from Gaza. If they leave, they are subject to not returning and, they know it... Now, we have 'wandering Pals'... Ironic. The Lord works in mysterious ways.
Ethnic cleansing. If Israel annexed Jerusalem, then the population who reside there (both Jew and Arab) are now Israeli and therefore have rights of citizenship and residence. If Israel does not have the legal right (because that part of Jerusalem is part of Palestine) then it does not have a say in who lives there. It is the Palestinian legal system that decides. Israel cannot have it both ways unless this is part of a policy of Ethnic Cleansing and this is being used to exclude Arabs from Jerusalem. I suggest any open minded reader have a look at "The Ethnic Cleansing of Palestine" by Ilan Pappe (you can get it from the library) and make up your mind. While you are at it, have a look at Righteous Victims buy Benny Morris. Before anyone Arab accuses me of bias, both authors are Jewish and respected for their work.
never misses a chance to cause hatred and misery to the Palestinian people. The man was born and lived in Jerusalem for the majority of his life, what is the problem ?
I agree with Israel. Peace is more important and if this group finds coexistence intolerable they need to stay out. Jordan place Arab families in Jewish homes illegally so many of these people are illegal. Let them go live in democratic Jordan or Syria. Iam sick of it
The problem is in the Zionist Political movement and the minds of its followers.
what about all the setlers in the west bank , the majorety of them carry u. s. citizenshiip, lets apply your idea to them too...I think that is fair.
I am very surprised at the super liberal policy regarding arabs residing in Jerusalem. Inspite of the writings od Amira Hass, it is an open secret that in the last 80 years or more, waves of arabs from all thecorners of the Middle East went to Palestine to fill the jobs created by the Jewish inhabitants of the Holly Land. If you talk to arbs in Ramalla, Nablus, East Jerusalem, etc..., they all prodly talk about their ansestors from Saudia, Syria, etc.... Now, when Israel became an economic miracle with high living standards, same arabs, without blinking an eye, claim that they livet in Jerusalem for the last "twenty thousand years" . We hope that Jerusalem District Court Judge Noam Solberg and other Judges will the truth for what realy is !!!
It's nice to see that ethnic exceptionalism is no longer a concern for the world
Palestinians were there before you showed up. You know who came from Europe and other parts of the world. the records are there. Radical Isarelis like to write their own version of history and believe that if they keep repeating lies, they will once turn to a reality aepted by all. Wake up
where do you get such info from?? even worse, how can you beleive it?!
1) saudi, uae and kuwait and such have much more jobs and growth opportunities than that place could ever have because of the oil, free education, Kuwait is even tax free,that's why people go THERE for work! 2) I have never yet to meet a palestinian that is actually syrian or other because it is always the other way around since the Palestinians are the ones who got kicked out of their country 3) I don’t know what kind of world you live in where Israel has a “super liberal policy regarding arabs residing in Jerusalem”. This is actually pure ignorance and it only shows how little you know about what is going on!
His argument makes no sense. 1) The deportation of residents isn't "liberal" it verges on fascist 2) His argument is EXACTLY the same as "another place, another time" (these $%&! people moved here) 3) Incidentally, 80 years ago there was no Jewish state and most of the citizens now here weren't living here 4) No one claimed they lived here the last 20,000 years. 5) When does a racist like you get to talk to "arbs" from Ramallah, Nablus, etc? Oh wait, Igor is a municipal court judge? Wow, should have guessed.
His argument makes no sense. 1) The deportation of residents isn't "liberal" it verges on fascist 2) His argument is EXACTLY the same as "another place, another time" (these $%&! people moved here) 3) Incidentally, 80 years ago there was no Jewish state and most of the citizens now here weren't living here 4) No one claimed they lived here the last 20,000 years. 5) When does a racist like you get to talk to "arbs" from Ramallah, Nablus, etc? Oh wait, Igor is a municipal court judge? Wow, should have guessed.
its no secret that in the last 80 years or more waves of Jews from all corners of Europe want to Palestine to occupy homes and land owned by Palestinians for hundreds of years.
The 80 years he mentions is the same 80 years nearly all its Jews (or their ancestors) came to Israel. What makes one group more native than the other?
Ramallah was founded in the 16th century and is considered one of the NEWER Arab cities in the West Bank. The Arab Palestinians have been the majority in the West Bank for well over 1000 years. Your mythology is largely baesd on a Joan Peters book which has been largely ignored because it more a book of hasbrah than historical fact.
Palestinians have lived for centuries and centuries on their land. To pretend, even for one second, that some Arab citizens would volunteer to liver under Israeli occupation, their lives constantly jeopoardized by Israeli settlers, is apalling.
Why does Haaretz allow these ghastly people space? It's incitement to hatred
i bet you all $100 that less than 10 of those people were jewish.
If you're Jewish you can live anywhere in the world for as long as you want and your residency will never be revoked. Most Israelis are also citizens of other countries. In fact even if you claim to be Jewish you will get immediate citizenship, housing and employment and you can even join the army to shoot Palestinians.
So? If they are native to Jerusalem, it doesn't matter what background they're from. It's that simple, pal!
In Arabs lands Jews can't even live this is sickening
only in Israel can you expect such hypocrocy or shall we say double standards. This is my country and I am ashame of it.
The man goes outside educates himself and then comes back where he could become a productive member of society. Israel revokes his residency and effectlvily gives the foreign a valuable member that contribute to their society.
well said, but this also forcibly seperate this man from his family, frend and his homeland.
The man left for nearly 20 years. That's slightly more than he needed to obtain an education. Meanwhile, he voluntarily acquired US citizenship. It appears he did so at his peril knowing the law at the time he left stated that one loses citizenship after a 7 year absence. If Israel was so important to him, why leave for nearly 20 years?
The last thing in the world Israel wants is educated successful people who will be leaders of the Palestinian community. They're too dangerous to a country trying to dominate and minimize its serfs.
Max, do Israeli Jews who've been living for several decades in the USA lose their citizenship? No. To only apply this apalling law to non-Jews is apalling, and racist.
Yes...you are now tourist. The courts are just another way of getting you out. Accept that you are a tourist and thank God your an American.
Bibi, read it.
we have doubt that this is what arabs would do if given any of Jerusalem, which is why they'll never get one inch of it. you are the sole reason for your misery, not Israel.
opportunity to deal with Jews, they would probably act like they have with Amira Hass. Amira Hass has lived in Gaza for many years and has no problems. Try it and you might like it. . .
The fact you are unable to see the racism in your own statement, that you would qualify such a discriminatory policy on conjecture, and to say that having Jews running would be better. Well, from this article, one can conclude that Jerusalem is not better off in the hands of Jews...so how about sharing equally?
//Declaration on the Invasion of Palestine says: “The Governments of the Arab States emphasise, on this occasion, what they have already declared before the London Conference and the United Nations, that the only solution of the Palestine problem is the establishment of a unitary Palestinian State, in accordance with democratic principles, whereby its inhabitants will enjoy complete equality before the law, [and whereby] minorities will be assured of all the guarantees recognised in democratic constitutional countries, and [whereby] the holy places will be preserved and the right of access thereto guaranteed.// NB: they invaded Palestine. Israel was no longer a part of Palestine May 15th 1948
The muslims historically granted full rights to Christians and Jews in the Holy City. In fact, European monarchy were inspired by Saladin's tolerance when he liberated the city from the Crusaders. He didn't kill, drive out or terrorize followers of other faiths. Look up history and stop lying.
on the contratry jennifer, arabs and muslims protected jews throughout the centuries and this is what the zionists do to them in return. so this time a palestinian decides to get educated and you claim he is responsible for his misery. what do you want the palestinians to do 1) try to build your economy with aid 2) fight your occupation with rocks 3) get phds and build your economy ) leave palestine and forget their family ever lived there
It's civil laws do not apply in ANY "territories occupied" Israeli civil courts have legal jurisdiction ONLY in Sovereign Israeli territory. When the belief in fallacies reaches the courts, a country is in deep sh*te.
Your grasp of the law is hilarious need a primer? There is no palestine and there is Israel, forever. Thank G-d the Israeli's took back what was theirs. Muslims should go leave and go to Saudi Arabia. Or Jordan, or Egypt or to hell for all I care.
and you or no arab will ever have it back. It belongs to Israel, period. if you want it back, come and get it, moron. Got 6 extra days? For? Three? None? No guts, no glory and man you have no guts. Sending a women's flotilla is the funniest condemnation of arabs yet. These are the same women who send their kids out w/ suicide vests aimed for Israel? Who 'educates' them, satan?
The Basque country is not Spain, and the Patagonia belongs to the indians and not to Argentina. Moreover, Texas, New Mexico belong to Mexico and the rest f the US to the First Natins as well as Canada. Australia and New Zealand were taken from the aborigens. And Africa? I would like to see all these defenders of the por Palestinians to speak out because of the property taken from the Arab Jews. Such hypocrasy!
burned temples and churches
In the article, Palestinians are quoted as saying: "Israel entered us," bitterly say the people to whom the Law of Entry applies, "It wasn't we who entered it." This is disingenuous. Israel only entered because it was being attacked by the Jordanian army, which was in Jerusalem at that time. Israeli officials literally begged the Jordanians not to open a second front, but King Hussein was duped by Nasser's propaganda and then paid the price. Israel's entry into Jerusalem was SELF-DEFENCE, something that is LEGAL under international law.
Petra: - It is people like you who turn others against Israel. Your talk is obscene.
how can berman and rosenblatt look at themselves in the mirror and say 'i am upholding the rule of law'? what is this 'law'? is it anything but a thinly (poorly) veiled tool for discrimination? if the point is 'you are treated this way because you are an arab,' can't they just say that? why the unconvincing mental gymnastics? in israel, do good lawyers become prosecutors, or are they all bottom of the class graduates from 4th tier law schools?
and Israel calls itself a free country? a democracy? Such rules are utterly repugnant and small of autocracy.
After 9-11 why are any pals or muslims allowed into the US? They are not our friends they should leave, now.
reminds me a lot of how americans used to (and still do) treat native americans. shameful racism and jewish supremacy, nothing more.
helped America win the war w/ the Nazis. Code breakers they were called. One thing the Indians have over the Pals, they lost, made peace w/ America and now enjoy casinos, tobacco sales, etc. The pals are still using rockets and kidnapping which the Indians were too smart to do. The Indians fought like men and acted like men when they lost. The Pals send women to do a mans work. Probably because their men are cowards and weenies.
So the palestinians should accept their rights being violated and give up? This is why they will not give up. If peace means surrender then Israel will never have peace.
If he was in the US to study then why does he now have US citizenship. Deport him now.
in one word.
This should apply to the Jews also.
There are hundreds of thousands of Jews with dual citizenship living in Israel and occupied territories.
Almost every Isareli has a second Citizenship. Isareli should really take a moment to look at the Mirror and see if this is the soicety they want their hildren to grow in. These are practices intended to remove the Arabs from their homeland.
Almost every Isareli has a second Citizenship. Isareli should really take a moment to look at the Mirror and see if this is the soicety they want their hildren to grow in. These are practices intended to remove the Arabs from their homeland.
I'm a US citizen now but that does not abrogate my Indian residency. I was born in India and have the right to freely work and visit there. Re the Jerusalem situation, I wonder how many Jewish residents of Jerusalem had their residency/citizenship revoked because they studied or worked outside Israel for extended periods. Just curious.
Is any part of this story missing?? This does notmake sense. I cannot imagine that an Israeli Jew who has studied and worked abroad for tenyearswouldbr denied the right to return. Where is the rest of this story???
Is any part of this story missing?? This does notmake sense. I cannot imagine that an Israeli Jew who has studied and worked abroad for tenyearswouldbr denied the right to return. Where is the rest of this story???
Were was your family two thousnad years ago were they forced out of India? Do you want to stay in America or do you wish a better life in India when you are retired from your job and rich....America benefits from the Indian immigrants popu;ation they are the best students in many of the American high schools and colleges we are lucky to hae them, America is lucky to have this Palestinian in its midst and Israel loses a talented man, but the law is the law, That is shortsighted but Jersualem is the Jewish capital of Israel and he(the Palestinain engineer) has no right there.
or kidnap soldiers and fire rockets daily into Israel. You must be a legal citizen of America. Good, now, defend it. The same thing applies to illegal aliens anywhere. An enemy is an enemy. A friend is a friend. Know the difference now? Just curious...
Because that is how an apartheid state works.
All Arab residents of East Jerusalem are offered Israeli citizenship. Many of them refuse to take it, and then act surprised when their residence status is revoked after 20 years of absence.
The answer is of course ZERO! These racist rules apply only to non Jews.