Israel/Palestine: Whether a Palestinian who left the West Bank in 1991 using a fraudulent Jordanian passport, and whose family still resides in the West Bank, would be allowed to return to the West Bank

The following information, dated 28 December 2001, was obtained from the Coordinator of the Legal Unit of the Badil Resource Center for Palestinian Residency and Refugee Rights situated in Bethlehem, Palestine.

Despite changes that have occurred in the 1967 Occupied Palestinian Territories since the signing of the Oslo Accords in 1993 (and subsequent agreements), the bottom line is that Israel still maintains full control over the international borders leading to and from the Palestine Authority. Accordingly, Israel has full control over Palestinian individuals' entry into and exit from those areas.

For Palestinians who leave the West Bank via the bridge to Jordan, Israel permits them to stay abroad for three years without revoking their West Bank residency. However, if they stay abroad longer than the three years, Israel considers their West Bank residency status to have "lapsed" and therefore to be cancelled.

... [A] Palestinian leaving the West Bank in the 1990s (irrespective of the fraudulent Jordanian passport issue, which is a separate question with implications for transit through Jordan for entry into the West Bank) would be deemed by Israel to have "lost" his West Bank residency status and therefore would be denied entry on those grounds.

There are several alternate grounds upon which Palestinians can apply for permission to enter the Occupied Territories, namely by applying for "tourist visas," "visitors permits" or family reunification status. Visitors permits and family reunification status, in particular, are very time consuming procedures and applicants face severe hurdles. Even tourist visa applications by Palestinians are closely scrutinized by the Israelis and can be summarily rejected or visas can be limited to exceedingly short time periods.

For further information regarding family reunification and visitors visas, please refer to Badil's November 1997 publication Exposed Realities: Palestinian Residency Rights in the Self Rule Areas Three Years After Partial Israeli Redeployment available at .

According to a research fellow at the Refugee Studies Centre, University of Oxford whose area of expertise includes residency status of Palestinian refugees in Arab countries, two major developments had "deep repercussions" for the residency status of Palestinians in the West Bank (WB) and Gaza Strip (GS): the Royal Decree of 'Legal and Administrative Disengagement' (LAD) issued by the late King Hussein of Jordan in August 1988 which severed Jordan's ties with the West Bank; and the signing of the Oslo Accord or the Declaration of Principals (DoP) on 13 September 1993 (31 Dec. 2001).

In his correspondence, dated 31 December 2001, the research fellow went on to explain:

LAD virtually turned the Palestinian inhabitants of the WB to stateless persons and since 1988, the Jordanian authorities have issued special Jordanian passports for the Palestinian inhabitants of the WB. The passport is of a temporary nature and is better described as a passport of convenience valid between 2-5 years defined by the Jordanian authorities as a travel document which does not give its holder right of abode, secure residency in Jordan or full social and economic rights.

The Palestinian inhabitants of the Israeli occupied territories of 1967 that include the WB and GS were classified by the Israeli authorities not as citizens but rather as residents of the territories and issued them with Israeli identity cards (ID). If they breach visa restrictions, Palestinian holders of the Israeli ID are almost certain to have it annulled, not be allowed back to their place of residence, and consequently lose their secure residency in the WB and GS. They have to have an exit visa valid for 6 months or 3 years, depending on their point of exit (6 months for flying from Ben Gurion airport, 3 years for land border crossings). Those who exceed their stay outside the country lose their ID and are consequently refused re-entry. Thousands of Palestinian inhabitants of the WB and GS lost their right to come back to their country in this way. This category of people is called the 'late comers'. Their fate was discussed among other groups in the peace talks but up to now the Israeli authority has refused to give them back their ID.

The Israeli measures which drove many inhabitants of the WB and GS to lose their ID, were ceased as a result of signing the peace agreement (DoP), but only applied to those who were already living in the WB or GS, and not those who had already been deprived of their ID. One may say that this is one of the main achievements of the peace agreement, which put an end to about three decades of practice that led to administrative expulsion of the Palestinians who live in the occupied territories.

The research fellow further stated that a Palestinian who left the West Bank in 1991 using a fraudulent Jordanian passport would not be eligible to benefit from the peace agreement (DoP) as he "certainly lost his ID in breach of the visa restrictions while living abroad" (ibid.). The research fellow concluded that such an individual would not be allowed back to the WB where the Israeli authorities are still the sole party which determines the issuance of IDs which enable Palestinians to return to territories directly under Israeli control or to territories under the control of the Palestinian Authority (ibid.). Furthermore, such an individual is not considered to be a Jordanian citizen (ibid.).

According to a public relations officer with the Palestinian Human Rights Monitoring Group (PHRMG), regulations in place during the early 1990s required any Palestinian leaving the country to first obtain a permit from the Israeli Ministry of the Interior (20 Dec. 2001). The public relations officer further stated that this re-entry or return permit would be valid for three years and that failure to return during this time period would invalidate the permit (ibid.). A representative of B'Tselem, the Israeli Information Center for Human Rights in the Occupied Territories stated that if an individual did not return during the three years indicated on the permit, that individual would lose his/her residency status and rights (20 Dec. 2001).

In the case of an individual who departed the West Bank using a fraudulent passport, the public relations officer stated that that individual would not have the necessary permit to return (ibid.).

A representative of the Palestinian General Delegation in Washington D.C. stated that a Palestinian without valid identity documentation issued by either Israeli or Palestinian authorities will not be allowed to return (18 Dec. 2001). The representative further stated that, with valid identification, such an individual can be granted a visitors' permit, but will not be given residency rights (ibid.).

This Response was prepared after researching publicly accessible information currently available to the Research Directorate within time constraints. This Response is not, and does not purport to be, conclusive as to the merit of any particular claim to refugee status or asylum. Please find below the list of additional sources consulted in researching this Information Request.

References

Badil Resource Center for Palestinian Residency and Refugee Rights, Bethlehem. 28 December 2001. Correspondence from the Coordinator of the Legal Unit.

B'Tselem - Israeli Information Center for Human Rights in the Occupied Territories, Jerusalem. 20 December 2001. Telephone interview with a representative.

Palestinian General Delegation, Washington D.C. 18 December 2001. Telephone interview with a representative.

Palestinian Human Rights Monitoring Group (PHRMG), East Jerusalem. 20 December 2001. Correspondence with a public relations officer.

Research Fellow, Refugee Studies Centre, University of Oxford. 31 December 2001. Correspondence.

Additional Sources Consulted

IRB databases

LEXIS/NEXIS

Internet sites including:

Al-Awda, Palestinian Right to Return Coalition

The Alternative Information Center

The Arab Association for Human Rights

Ha'aretz

The Palestinian Independent Commission For Citizens' Rights

The Palestinian Information Center

The Palestinian Refugee and Diaspora Centre

The Palestinian Society for the Protection of Human Rights and the Environment

World News Connection (WNC)

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