Warning that thousands of Palestinian families will be separated by Israeli law

A Jerusalem-based body has condemned the Israeli Citizenship Law which has been announced by the authorities. The Islamic-Christian Commission in Support of Jerusalem and the Holy Sites said that this “racist law” will ensure that Palestinian families will be broken up.

In a press statement issued on 15 January, the Commission said, “The new Citizenship Law will work on the separation of families with one of the spouses staying inside Israel while the other has to stay in the occupied West Bank, East Jerusalem or Gaza Strip.”

---

A spokesman added, “The law will not only prevent Palestinians in the occupied territories from having normal family lives if they are married  to Palestinians holding Israeli passports, but will also endanger families where Israel’s Palestinian citizens are married to citizens of countries regarded as hostile by Tel Aviv.” The latter includes countries such as Iraq, Syria, Lebanon and Iran; “Even,” said the spokesman, “people living in areas where there are operations which Israeli law regards as a threat to the security of the Zionist state.”

Appealing to Arab and international organisations to put pressure on Israel to end such “injustice”, the Islamic-Christian Commission called the Israeli legislation “a flagrant violation of all international conventions which guarantee individual freedoms and rights.”