Gisha files Freedom of Information petition and motion for urgent hearing to compel the Civil Administration to publicize all of its operating procedures

On December 31, 2014, Gisha petitioned (Hebrew) the Jerusalem District Court sitting as the Court for Administrative Affairs to instruct the Civil Administration to make all of its written administrative operation procedures available to the public. In the petition, Gisha claimed, that the Civil Administration had a duty to do publicize the procedures under Section 6(a) of the Freedom of Information Act 5758-1998. On the same day, Gisha filed a motion (Hebrew) for an urgent hearing.

Despite the clear duty stipulated in the law, the Civil Administration refuses to uphold these provisions and publicize the information on its own initiative.

Originally, Gisha filed a petition to the Tel Aviv District Court in May 2014 against both the office of the Coordinator of Government Activities in the Territories (COGAT) and the Civil Administration, demanding they publicize their operating procedures (AP 51147-05-14 Gisha v. office of the Coordinator of Government Activities in the Territories). In a hearing held in that petition, the court ruled it lacked geographic jurisdiction over the publication of Civil Administration procedures, and that the matter was within the purview of the Jerusalem District Court. After repeated communications from Gisha, as well as work by COGAT and the Civil Administration failed to yield a timeline for publication of Civil Administration procedures, Gisha filed a petition in order to receive a timeline for the publication of all Civil Administration procedures, as had been the case with COGAT procedures following the original petition.

The court instructed the Civil Administration to file its preliminary response to the petition by February 4, 2015, and extended the deadline to February 15, 2015, after counsel for the Civil Administration filed a motion for delay with consent.