CORRECTS - Denied by Israel, Palestinians aspire to family reunification

CORRECTS HEADLINE

By Hani Al Shaer and Qais Abu Samra

RAMALLAH/GAZA, Palestine (AA) – Following an announcement by the Palestinian Authority (PA) that Israel has approved 5,000 family reunification requests, Palestinians gathered outside the offices of the Palestinian Civil Affairs Authority, the body that officially receives the requests on Israel’s behalf, to submit their documents.

Thousands of Palestinians who have lost their case for family reunification have been living without ID cards hence restricting their movement and putting them at risk of Israeli persecution or deportation from the West Bank.

The issue of family reunification is a matter of concern for thousands of Palestinians whose legal presence in the occupied Palestinian territories is not recognized by Israel.

These individuals have families in the West Bank and Gaza Strip and have entered with temporary or “tourist" permits, while others have tied the knot with other nationalities before having their family reunification requests granted.

While there is no exact official data on the number of those waiting for their family reunification requests, the campaign movement Uniting My Right estimates them at around 20,000 people.

Besides those with families residing in areas run by the PA, some of those with pending family reunification requests are married to Israelis or Palestinians living inside Israel.

However, the recent Israeli announcement only affects Palestinians “who entered the Palestinian territories under a visitor permit or a visa to get citizenship and a Palestinian passport,” according to a statement by the Civil Affairs Authority.

Palestinian identity holders who live in the West Bank but originally from Gaza will have their place of residence modified.

In recent months, a number of those affected have mobilized in the city of Ramallah and in blockaded Gaza and launched social media campaigns such as Reunification My Right to protest Israeli policies.

- Strangers in their own country

Abir Taima, a 51-year-old woman from Gaza, said she has been a stranger in her own country for many years and hopes her suffering and that of her family will end.

"We have lost our Palestinian identity, and we are strangers in our homeland,” Taima told Anadolu Agency.

She added, “We have been suffering for many years over failure to be reunited, and have been deprived of travel and from participating in many occasions or seeking education abroad."

"I came in June 2000 to Gaza from Egypt, with a visitor's permit, and since then I have not been able to return to see my family in Egypt, and I have not been able to take part in any occasion,” Taima said.

A mother of three daughters, Taima said she couldn’t bid farewell to her deceased husband who died in Egypt while receiving medical treatment.

Taima was among hundreds of Palestinians who flocked to the Civil Affairs Authority to submit her request for family reunification.

"I won't believe until I hold my card in my hand," she said.

- Decades of separation

In the West Bank, those without IDs have become prisoners in their homes with fear of deportation haunting them as Israeli forces patrolling the streets stop anyone without ID.

Sana Mohamed, one of thousands camping out of the headquarters of the Civil Affairs Authority in Ramallah to complete their family reunification procedures, has been married in the West Bank, but her family lives in Jordan and has not met them for 24 years.

Mohamed fears if she leaves the West Bank she will not be allowed to return.

“The reason is simple. I do not have an ID, and traveling means not returning to the West Bank, where my home, my husband and my children are,” she told Anadolu Agency.

"I have suffered a lot, I have cried, and was not allowed to look at my father and hug my brothers,” she said. “I am impatiently waiting for the moment that I will get the ID."

- Hard choices

Nasser Mustafa, from Ramallah, lost his business in the US five years ago due to his inability to travel after arriving in the West Bank.

"Although I hold the US citizenship, the Israeli authorities refused to renew my residency, which means, if I travel, I will not be able to return to the West Bank," Mustafa told Anadolu Agency.

He continued, "I live in a prison here, I fear deportation every day. At the same time, I need to travel and be allowed to return again, this is my country and it is here where my family lives, and my business in the US has closed."

Neither the PA in the West Bank nor the Hamas movement, which rules the Gaza Strip, has the authority to make any changes to the Palestinian population registry except registering births and deaths and replacing personal identity cards.

To recognize the legality of the Palestinians' presence in the West Bank and Gaza, Israel requires that their presence there pre-dates the Israeli occupation of the West Bank in June 1967.

Following the PA establishment in 1994, Israel agreed to the reunification of thousands of Palestinian families.

However, since 2009, when former Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu came to power on a Likud party ticket, Israel suspended the processing of family reunification requests.

*Writing by Ibrahim Mukhtar in Ankara