Following the petition submitted by Adalah and Hamoked Center: Israeli Military Southern Command Freezes Order Forcing Israeli Citizens Visiting Gaza to Remain There for Three Months

On July 7 2004, the Supreme Court held a hearing of the petition submitted by Adalah and Hamoked Center for Defence of the Individual (Hamoked) in May 2004. During the hearing, the Israeli Military Southern Command declared the freezing of the order, which conditions the issuance and extension of entry permits to the Gaza Strip for citizens and residents of Israel who are married to, or are parents of, residents of the Gaza Strip, upon their commitment to remain there for three consecutive months. Furthermore, the Israeli Military representative stated that all permit requests will be reviewed on an individual basis, as will the actual necessity for the order. Although the Supreme Court did not rule on the legality of the order, it did declare that the petitioners will be able to return to the Court should the Southern Command decide to renew the order.

The May 2004 petition sought the cancellation of an order which conditions the issuance and extension of entry permits to the Gaza Strip for citizens and residents of Israel who are married to, or are parents of, residents of the Gaza Strip upon their commitment to remain in Gaza for three consecutive months. The petition was filed on behalf of four families who have been affected by the order, against the Israeli Military Southern Command. The order was issued by the Southern Command, with the stated intent of limiting the use of the Erez checkpoint. Prior to filing the petition, Adalah and Hamoked demanded that the Israeli military's legal advisor immediately cancel the order. No response was received to the motion.

In the petition, Adalah attorney Orna Kohn and Hamoked attorney Yossi Wolfson argued that, since the order does not affect Israeli citizens and residents requesting to enter Gaza to visit settlements, the order is discriminatory on the basis of national belonging. Furthermore, the petitioners argued that the order blatantly discriminates against Arab citizens and residents of Israel who are married to, or are parents of, residents of the Gaza Strip, thereby violating their constitutional rights to family life, dignity, equality, and privacy, and breaching their constitutional right to enter Israel. As such, the objective of this order is inappropriate, as well as unacceptably broad and sweeping.

Some Arab residents and citizens of Israel have close family ties to residents of the Gaza Strip. Since 1994, however, entry to the Gaza Strip has been conditioned upon obtaining a special permit issued by the Southern Command, which has consistently restricted the entry of Israeli citizens and residents to the Gaza Strip, with the exception of the settlements or special permits. However, the criteria for obtaining these permits have never been published, and have been repeatedly tightened since 1994. The policy recently initiated by the Southern Command concerning the entry of Israeli residents and citizens into Gaza has been subject to further limitations, and thus virtually no entry permits have been granted. There was, however, one exception to this policy: that entry into Gaza for Israeli residents and citizens who fall within the category of a 'split family' (a citizen or resident of Israel whose spouse our children reside in the Gaza Strip) was not limited, thereby allowing such families to maintain a family life. Whilst members of ‘split families' have faced numerous difficulties in entering the Gaza Strip, the principle of permitting ‘split families' to maintain a family life has been officially adhered to since 1994.

The petition details the severe repercussions of this order on the lives of ‘split families'. For instance, as a consequence of the order, Dr. Ibrahim A'ashur, an Arab citizen of Israel residing in Beer el-Sebe (Be'er Sheva), has been prevented from seeing his wife and five children, who live in the Gaza Strip, for over three months. Dr. A'ashur has not received a response to his application for an entry permit to the Gaza Strip to visit his family, but has been told that when his entry is granted, it will be conditioned upon his commitment not to return to Israel for three consecutive months. A further example is the case of Ms. Zulfa Housaini, an Arab citizen of Israel who has been dividing her time between the Gaza Strip and Haifa, since her request to grant her husband, a resident of the Gaza Strip, legal status in Israel was rejected. She was forced to sign a document stating that she would not return to Israel for three consecutive months, in order for the permit enabling her to remain in the Gaza Strip with her husband and children to be extended.