Prime Minister Ehud Olmert has ordered the approval of some 3,400 requests for family unification that were submitted over the years by West Bank Palestinians for their spouse or other first-degree relative who was not registered in the Palestinian population registry, which is administered by Israel. Ha'aretz reported that the decision was made as part of the prime minister's "gestures" to Chairman of the Palestinian Authority, Mahmud Abbas.

Video testimonies of women from the former USSR married to residents of the Territories

This measure is the first of its kind since 2000, when Israel froze the operation of the mechanism for handling family-unification requests that was set up in the Oslo agreements. Over the past seven years, the Palestinian Ministry of Interior has accumulated more than 120,000 requests for family unification that Israeli authorities have refused to handle.

The spokesperson for the Coordinator of Government Operations in the Territories informed B'Tselem that the granting of approval is a one-time action and does not mean that the mechanism for handling family-unification requests will be reinstituted. He also stated that only requests by West Bank Palestinians, and not those of Palestinians from the Gaza Strip, will be approved, and that the list of requests to be included in the "gesture" was prepared by the Palestinian Authority. Most of the requests are for women who entered the West Bank before 2000 on visitor's permits and remained there with their families after the permits expired following the freeze of the family unification process. In the eyes of the Israeli authorities, these women are staying illegally in the West Bank and as a result, they are constantly under threat of deportation. Another problem Palestinians without resident status face is their inability to visit their families abroad; if they leave, they will not be allowed to return to their homes in the West Bank .

Video testimonies of a Jordanian citizen married to a resident of the Territories

Despite the importance of the family-unification issue, the Prime Minister's Office has not yet officially announced the decision, but has only issued directives to the Israeli authorities charged with execution and to the relevant PA officials.

For the 3,400 Palestinians whose requests will be approved and their relatives will receive residency status in the West Bank, the decision will end the severe hardship and uncertainty that Israel has forced on them for years. However, tens of thousands of Palestinian families will continue to suffer as long as Israel does not allow them to legalize the status of their relatives. B'Tselem therefore welcomes the approval of any family-unification requests, while objecting to the one-time nature of the action. Israel 's refusal to reinstitute the family-unification mechanism on a regular basis conveys disregard of Palestinian rights - among them the right to family life - which Israel is required to respect, legally and morally. The decision not to approve requests submitted by Palestinians in Gaza , based solely on forbidden political motives, further strengthens the perception that, with respect to Palestinians, Israel does not recognize human rights, but grants or denies Palestinians their rights under international law in accordance with its political interests.

For these reasons, B'Tselem calls on the government of Israel to immediately renew the regular processing of requests for family unification and to grant visitor's permits in a manner that will enable the residents to exercise their right to live with their families in the Occupied Territories, and to do this within a reasonable time. Israel must not take politics or demographics into account in making these decisions, and must restrict itself to security reasons only.