A losing battle in Israel’s High Court of Justice
Source: Mondoweiss
One would hope that the U.S. State Department’s unusually harsh condemnation of steps taken by the Israeli cabinet in recent weeks to expand construction in the West Bank settlements and East Jerusalem will not fall on deaf ears. However, two recent decisions in the Israeli High Court of Justice suggest that no measure of strong words will impact Israel’s blatant disregard of international law.
This fact is most stark in East Jerusalem – a territory which was occupied in 1967 by Israel and immediately annexed to create what is known in Israeli society as “united Jerusalem.” The two recent verdicts by the Israeli High Court of Justice – an institution enjoying a worldwide reputation for defending liberal values – seem to have little in common, apart from the fact that they both deal with issues related to East Jerusalem.
The first ruling dealt with a Palestinian couple: the wife was an Israeli citizen and the husband was from the West Bank, and their application to live together in Jerusalem (“family unification”) was processed by the Israeli Ministry of Interior’s office in East Jerusalem. Most East Jerusalem Palestinians hold only permanent residency status, given to them by Israel following the 1967 annexation, and refrain from applying for Israeli citizenship for obvious political reasons. In this case, as the wife was an Israeli citizen, the couple petitioned to have their application processed by the Ministry’s office in West Jerusalem, where all the other Israeli citizens (the vast majority Jewish) are serviced. When the Ministry refused their request, the couple petitioned to the High Court of Justice, arguing discrimination, given that services offered in the East Jerusalem office are far worse than those in the West side.
The High Court dismissed the petition, and accepted the State of Israel’s argument, according to which the Ministry of Interior services are given on a geographical basis – Jerusalemites who live in West Jerusalem go to the Ministry’s office in the Western area of the city and those living in East Jerusalem are required to go the office at the East. This argument is absurd, as more than 200,000 Israeli Jews live in East Jerusalem, but receive their services from the Western office.
Read more: http://mondoweiss.net/2016/08/battle-israels-justice/