Help us keep Palestinian families together!
- Saida met her husband when he came to Ramallah to work as a business consultant.
- Saleh met his wife while he was working in Jordan.
- Christo met his wife Heather when she came to Ramallah to teach at the music conservatory where he also teaches.
Every family has its own unique story. What these families share is the constant fear that they will not be able to continue living together in the West Bank.
International law guarantees every human being the basic right to live with their family in safety and dignity.
Yet Israel refuses to grant the foreign spouses of Palestinians the right to live with them in the West Bank. Nominally, the Palestinian Authority is responsible for processing applications for family unification, but in fact, all applications have to be approved by Israel. Since 2000, Israel has frozen the review of Palestinian family unification requests. As a result, foreign spouses, and in some cases children, live in the West Bank with short-term visitors' permits or with no legal status at all.
Without a residency permit, they live in a constant state of uncertainty and instability. They cannot work legally or get a drivers' license. Every time they are stopped at an Israeli checkpoint they run the risk of arrest and deportation.
This is what happened to Ma'an, whose father is Palestinian and mother is from South America. He has been in immigration detention for almost two years! Israel is trying to deport him, although he has lived in the West Bank since he was a toddler. His family unification request, submitted in 2007, was never reviewed by Israel, which therefore considers him an illegal alien.
HaMoked is advocating on behalf of these families – normal people whose only wish is to live together, without fear of separation and deportation. Through individual legal advocacy, one family at a time, we aim to change this discriminatory policy.
Join our struggle to ensure the right to family life for West Bank Palestinians and their foreign spouses.
About HaMoked:
HaMoked has thirty years of experience advocating for Palestinians' rights within the Israeli legal system. We provide free legal aid and other assistance to some 8,000 Palestinians each year: locating family members in detention, challenging restrictions on movement, defending residency rights and combating collective punishment. Despite the difficult political climate, a majority of our cases are resolved successfully, resulting in relief for individuals as well as broader changes in Israeli government and military policy to better respect human rights.
We are funded entirely by charitable donations. A majority of HaMoked's support is from foreign governmental entities.
For more information on HaMoked's activities – click here.
About the Project:
Your support will help us advocate on behalf of twenty families seeking the right to live together in the West Bank. We have already helped them file family unification applications, and written to the military on their behalf. The next step is petitioning the High Court of Justice. We hope that this series of individual petitions will both result in permits for these families, and bring about a change in Israel's policy, enabling Palestinians to live with their spouses in their homes. These families need your support in funding the high costs incurred: employing an attorney to handle such cases, paying court fees, taking affidavits and more.
Support our fight for the right to family life for Palestinians.
For questions: mail@hamoked.org.il or +972-2-6271698
Thank you for your support,
Jessica Montell, Executive Director of HaMoked, and HaMoked's team.