PA confirms 5,500 family reunifications will be issued to Palestinian families

The Head of the Palestinian Authority (PA)’s General Commission of Civil Affairs, Hussein Al Sheikh, announced today that 5,500 family reunifications will be issued to Palestinian families.

“After a little while, five thousand and five hundred family reunions will be announced for the West Bank and Gaza Strip,” he wrote on Twitter.

After a little while, five thousand and five hundred family reunifications will be announced for the West Bank and Gaza Strip. https://t.co/Psi06FGJkQ

— حسين الشيخ Hussein AlSheikh (@HusseinSheikhpl) July 12, 2022

It comes after Israel re-authorised a law banning Palestinians from the occupied West Bank and Gaza Strip who marry Palestinians in Israel from receiving residency in Israel.

While Israel claimed the law – known as the Citizenship and Entry into Israel Law – was passed for security reasons, the Legal Centre for Arab Minority Rights in Israel (Adalah) argues that the law aimed to ensure a Jewish demographic majority, calling it one of the most racist and discriminatory laws in the world.

The law also prohibits the entry of Arabs from countries “hostile” to Israel, such as Lebanon, Syria, Iraq and Iran, for family reunification purposes.

Three attorneys from Adalah submitted a petition in March on the basis that it violated fundamental constitutional rights and was contrary to international law.

“The law’s initiators relied on sweeping determinations that any ‘descendants’ of a Palestinian parent constitute a security threat. They also relied on the prohibited ‘enemy alien’ doctrine, which determines that any individual living in an ‘enemy territory’ is to be considered an enemy,” the petition stated.

Rights groups have long warned of the seriousness of the law, which the Israeli government claims was enacted for security reasons. Palestinians consider the law racist.

READ: UN chief concerned about Israel law banning Palestinian family reunification