Last Sunday (18.7), the Israeli Government has approved the extension of the 'Temporary Order' to the Citizenship and Entry to Israel Law yet again, as it has done annually since 2003. The Knesset is expected to approve the 'Temporary Order' as well. The Citizenship Law affects couples where one member is an Israeli citizen and the other is a resident of the Palestinian Authority (or Syria, Lebanon, Iran, or Iraq). Such couples are prevented by the Israeli government from pursuing a process of family reunification which affords both spouses legal status in Israel.

Physicians for Human Rights-Israel 's position paper argues that this Humanitarian Committee is unable to provide fair and realistic solutions for the affected population.  The paper analyzes seven applications to the Committee of which only one applicant succeeded in receiving status, and only after the Supreme Court intervened.  One applicant was rejected, and received a partial response, while after over a year, the applications of four others have gone completely unanswered.  Based on these cases, the position paper highlights how rather than providing feasible solutions to applications, the Committee acts as a significant obstacles in the path of family unification and permanent status.

The Humanitarian Committee:

• functions without transparency : meeting schedules and minutes are not made available to applicants or to the public.

• does not grant applicants the right to appear before the Committee, to submit additional information, or ask for clarification regarding committee decisions.

• does not grant applicants the right to appeal decisions handed down by the Committee

• does not take into account that applicants lack civil status and therefore often cannot supply all requested documents.

• demands notarized documents in Hebrew and English, despite the fact that the vast majority of applicants are mother-tongue Arabic speakers.

• does not follow required time - sensitive guidelines and often delays responses for more than a year.

• does not feature representatives from the  Ministry of Health, the Ministry of Welfare, and the Ministry of Education, despite being called the Humanitarian Committee. The Shin Bet (Israeli Security Apparatus) and the Ministry of Defense are represented.