[Media-watch] {SPAM?} racism allowed by law

[Sigi D]

hello dear Media Watch Friends
check out this link - it's about 'apartheid' or
'security' in Israel. I wasn't aware how bad it is.
Oh, the link is from Amnesty international. 
It's very scary because racism is allowed by law, in
the name of security.
http://amnesty-news.c.topica.com/maacrmQaa8meHbew2yLb/
http://amnesty-news.c.topica.com/maacrmQaa8meHbew2yLb/
I also enclose ai's news release from last week about
the same subject.
All the best
Sigi
News Release Issued by the International Secretariat
of Amnesty International

AI INDEX: MDE 15/066/2004     13 July 2004 

Israel/Occupied Territories: Families torn apart by
discriminatory policies



"After 14 years of marriage, my husband and the father
of my children has no
right to sleep in our home, he has no right to kiss
his daughters goodnight, no
right to be there if they get sick at night...What
logic is there for forcing
families to go through such hell every day, year after
year."
Terry Bullata, a 38-year old school principle from
Jerusalem.

Thousands of Palestinians are being denied their
fundamental right to live as a
family by an Israeli law that is due for review at the
end of this month.

The Citizenship and Entry into Israel Law bars
Israelis who are married to
Palestinians from the Occupied Territories from living
with their spouses in
Israel. 

In a report published today, Torn Apart: Families
split by discriminatory
policies (
http://amnesty-news.c.topica.com/maacrmQaa8meHbew2yLb/
), Amnesty
International calls on Israel to repeal the law on
family unification, which
discriminates against Palestinians from the West Bank
and Gaza and against the
Palestinian citizens of Israel and residents of
Jerusalem who marry them.

"The Citizenship and Entry into Israel Law
institutionalizes racial
discrimination contravening international human rights
and humanitarian law.
Without the right to family unification, thousands of
Palestinian citizens of
Israel and Jerusalem residents can either have their
spouse live with them
illegally, in daily fear of expulsion, or the whole
family must leave the
country," Amnesty International said.

"At the Interior Ministry they told me to either get
divorced or to go live in
the West Bank. But I love my husband and he loves me
and we don't want to
divorce and I don't want to take my children to live
in the West Bank in the
middle of a war and insecurity."
Salwa Abu Jaber, a 29-year-old kindergarten assistant
from Umm al-Ghanam in
Northern Israel.

Family unification procedures for Palestinian
residents of the Occupied
Territories married to citizens or residents of other
countries have also been
suspended by the Israeli army since the end of 2000.

The Israeli government has justified the barring of
family unification on
"security" grounds, arguing that the law is aimed at
reducing the potential
threat of attacks in Israel by Palestinians. However,
Israeli ministers and
officials have repeatedly described the percentage of
Palestinian citizens of
Israel as a "demographic threat" and a threat to the
Jewish character of the
state. This suggests the law is part of a long
standing policy aimed at
restricting the number of Palestinians who are allowed
to live in Israel and in
East Jerusalem.


Amnesty International calls on the Israeli authorities
to:

Repeal the Citizenship and Entry into Israel Law;
Resume the processing of family unification
applications according to the
principle of non-discrimination;
Process the backlog of thousands of applications and
re-examine applications
refused prior to the suspension of the procedure;
Provide details to any rejected applicant of the
grounds for the refusal so they
can challenge the decision.


Torn Apart: Families split by discriminatory policies
-- please see --
http://amnesty-news.c.topica.com/maacrmQaa8meHbew2yLb/

Stop destruction of homes and land by Israeli army.
Take action! Visit
http://amnesty-news.c.topica.com/maacrmQaa8meIbew2yLb/


	
	
		
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