Israel denies two sisters’ participation in mourning rituals for their father in the West Bank
The petitioners, sisters who reside in the Gaza Strip, asked to travel to the West Bank to take part in mourning rituals for their deceased father. They had originally asked to visit him when his medical condition deteriorated. However, Israel applied a security block on them, preventing them from saying their last goodbyes when he was still alive.
Following his death, Israel ignored the petitioners’ application for permits, and an administrative petition (Hebrew) was filed against its refusal to respond the request. The state’s issued a response (Hebrew) the day after the petition was filed, stating that the petitioners’ application had been denied for two reasons: First, the application had not been transferred to the Gaza Coordination and Liaison Administration by the Palestinian Civil Affairs Committee (PCAC), and second, Israel had placed a full closure on the Gaza Strip due to the spread of the coronavirus and exits were approved only in urgent humanitarian cases.
On July 3, 2020, the state filed a preliminary response to the petition, repeating these key points. In this submission, the state argued that according to protocols agreed upon between the Palestinian Authority and Israel, the PCAC must forward Israel permit applications made by Gaza residents. Since the committee was not transferring applications, a decision was made to allow direct applications only for medical needs. The response also noted that since the closure was imposed, only applications for medical needs had been approved, and therefore, even if the petitioners had filed their application via the PCAC, it would have been denied.
The petition was heard on July 5, 2020, before Judge Avraham Rubin. During the hearing, Gisha clarified that the state had presented erroneous information and that exit from Gaza was available in non-medical cases as well. We further explained that the PCAC had halted coordination as part of a general decision made by the Palestinian Authority in response to Israel’s plans to annex parts of the West Bank, and that given the situation, Israel has a duty to continue considering applications.
Gisha further argued that despite the fact that coordination had been halted for both the West Bank and the Gaza Strip, Israel continued to issue permits to West Bank residents without requiring the involvement of any Palestinian body. Gisha also noted the wrongful distinction between the Gaza Strip and the West Bank being applied in the context of the coronavirus closure as well, given that while the virus was spreading in the West Bank, it was contained in the Gaza Strip.
Judge Rubin was not prepared to hear Gisha’s arguments, and, despite believing lack of coordination should not stand in the way of processing the petitioners’ applications, he did state his opinion that the state may prevent petitioners’ passage for the purpose of mourning rituals, in light of the spread of the virus. Realizing that if we insisted on receiving a judgment, the petition would be dismissed and we would not have time to appeal given the time that had elapsed since the father’s funeral, we accepted the judge’s recommendation and asked for the petition to be deleted.
