Court decision in petition filed by Gisha for change of address for a Palestinian residing in the West Bank, HCJ 8101/14 Jabarin v. Minister of Defense

October 28, 2015

The petition was filed (Hebrew) on November 30, 2014, on behalf of a Palestinian woman who has been living in the West Bank for 25 years, and on behalf of her children who are minors. The petitioners’ official address remained listed as “Gaza Strip”, despite their applications to have it changed to the West Bank to correctly reflect where they actually live.

On October 28, 2015, the court held a hearing (Hebrew) on the petition, during which Gisha clarified once more that the petitioner’s application was submitted to the Palestinian authorities and forwarded to the Israeli side, and recalled that a letter signed by the deputy director of the Civil Affairs Ministry attesting to this fact had been filed with the court. As Gisha argued at the hearing, the state must view this letter as evidence of the fact that the petitioners’ application was transferred to the Israeli side, and therefore, must be considered on its merits.

Despite this, after the hearing, the court decided (Hebrew) that the petitioner would have to contact the authorized Palestinian Authority official (Ayman Kandil, deputy director of the Civil Affairs Ministry) again, and ask that he confirm her application for change of address to the respondents using the appropriate channels. The parties were ordered to provide the court with an update on this issue. Since the decision was handed down, Gisha has been trying to transfer the application for change of address to the correct official, according to the instructions of the court, but has so far been unsuccessful due to the need to directly contact a specific senior official to ensure processing.