Palestine Economy Portal

The Israeli occupation authorities prevent Palestinian citizens from leaving the West Bank, claiming that they are not listed under the Palestinian population registry copy of the occupation army.

The Israeli Human Rights Center sent an urgent letter to the occupation army authorities, on September 24th, in which it demanded that Palestinians be allowed to leave the West Bank, even if their names do not appear in the Israeli copy of the Palestinian population registry.

The Center stated in its message that its approach is related to the basic right of any person to leave his country, and indicated that Palestinians in the West Bank are not required to obtain a prior permit in order to travel abroad via the Allenby Bridge (Al-Karama crossing).

However, the occupation measures require that the details of travellers crossing the Allenby Bridge be accurately contained in a copy of the Palestinian population registry, which the Palestinian Authority transfers to the occupation army.

The occupation authorities began to prevent the exit of Palestinians whose details were not present in the copy of the Palestinian population registry in their possession, as a punitive measure, following the Palestinian Authority’s halting of security coordination and stopping the delivery of such a copy to the occupation authorities.

The Center said that, "As a result, Israel prevents many families from returning to their homes abroad with children who were born in recent months in the West Bank, and whose families have registered them in the Palestinian Population Registry."

The Center approached the occupation authorities on behalf of a number of Palestinian women who had recently given birth in the West Bank, and who possessed birth certificates and passports for their children issued by the Palestinian Authority. Details of the births were also recorded on the Palestinian mothers ’identity cards.

The Center stressed that despite this, the occupation authorities prevent these women and their children from returning to their homes abroad and joining their husbands and fathers of their children. The Center stressed that these practices constitute "a serious violation of the right to freedom of movement and the right to family life, in addition to the violation of the supreme principle, the interest of the child." The Center went to the Israeli court, demanding the issuance of a preliminary decision on the matter.

The center pointed out that "it is the army's duty to defend the rights of any person belonging to the population living under occupation, whether there is a new registration in the Israeli file or not. Accordingly, the army must work quickly in order to allow families who have been prevented from leaving the West Bank to leave."