8.2.04

 
   New Report: Forbidden Families  


According to a new report by B'Tselem and HaMoked: Center for the Defence of the Individual, the new Nationality and Entry into Israel Law will force thousands of couples to live apart. At 12 years of age, children will be separated from their parents or become, against their will, lawbreakers. Many families will remain in Israel without a legal status, just so they can live together.

The report focuses on the law's effect on Palestinian residents of East Jerusalem. B'Tselem and HaMoked found that the state deliberately offered misleading justifications, contending that the law was necessary on security grounds, while hiding the true reason for the legislation: demographic concerns.

The security claims made by the state were refuted, even by their own statistics. Interior Ministry figures indicate that 23 of the 100,000-140,000 Palestinians who came to Israel through the family unification process - only some 0.02 percent - were ostensibly involved in “carrying out attacks.” Therefore, the law constitutes grave, discriminatory, and baseless collective punishment.

HaMoked and B'Tselem urge the Israeli government to change its policy and treat its citizens and residents equally. The organizations also call on the Knesset to repeal the new law. The Interior Ministry must reinstate the procedures for family unification and the registration of children, and process these requests efficiently and fairly. The Ministry must recognize the right of residents of East Jerusalem to marry whomever they choose and live with their spouse and children wherever they wish.

 
Forbidden Families

Summary of the Report
 
   Eyes Wide Open - Music Video on the Siege Policy  


B'Tselem has produced a song and music video as part of the organization's campaign against Israel's siege policy. The song - "Eyes Wide Open" - is a remake of a popular Israeli song, featuring well-known Israeli artists. The song's lyrics speak of the need to acknowledge the reality around us. The music video features footage taken at roadblocks and checkpoints within the West Bank and shows the daily reality of Israel's siege policy.

With the release of the video, B'Tselem once again calls on the Israeli government to end its siege policy and remove the roadblocks and checkpoints restricting movement within the West Bank.

 
Eyes Wide Open

   
   
   
   
 
   Bribes and Delays - Testimony of a student at a siege checkpoint  

The following is taken from the testimony of Nivin al-Qadumi, 24, a resident of Nablus:

About an hour later, one of the soldiers went over to a group of young people and asked them, in Arabic, if they had a cigarette. One man in the group said that he did. The soldier asked what kind, and the guy said “Marlboro.”

Another man in the group translated. The soldier said to the guy with the cigarette: “Come here.” ….The guy gave a cigarette to the soldier, and the soldier said to the other soldiers, “Let him pass.”

   
The guy gave a cigarette to the soldier, and the soldier said to the other soldiers, 'Let him pass.'

Nivin al-Qadumi
 
   
   
   
 
   Border Police beat Palestinian in East Jerusalem  

On 15 November 2003, Border Police officers beat Heysham Harizat, 28, a laborer from Yatta, Hebron District. Harizat, who did not have a permit to be in East Jerusalem, was looking for work when he encountered Border Police officers. In his testimony to B'Tselem, he described what happened:

The [Border] policeman came over to me, looked around, and asked where I was from. He wanted to see my ID card. I told him that I was from Yatta and handed him my ID. He did not even look at it. He attacked me, slapping and punching me in the face. He knocked out three of my teeth, and my mouth was bleeding. I saw five or six other police officers standing about twenty meters away. They had apprehended the laborers who were with me. The policeman who assaulted me saw that I was bleeding and that my teeth had been broken. He stopped beating me and took me to where the other men were being detained. I wanted to sit down, but he didn't let me. I stood there about ten minutes, until the police finished checking the IDs of the others…

The [same] policeman grabbed each of us by the back of the neck, took us to Salah, and ordered him to tell us that if he sees any of us back there again he would beat us. Salah repeated that to everybody in the group….

The policeman who was in the GMC called out our names and gave us back our ID cards. When he called my name, he threw my card to the ground and told me to get out of there.

   
He attacked me, slapping and punching me in the face. He knocked out three of my teeth, and my mouth was bleeding.

Heysham Harizat
 
   
   
   
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