Following submission of a petition, the permit request of a Gaza trader to enter Israel was answered; this after he waited ten months and didn’t receive a response, AP 43532-02-13

On February 21, 2013, Gisha filed a petition with the administrative court in Beersheva on behalf of Mr. Jaber. Mr. Jaber is a Palestinian trader who lives in the Gaza Strip and has been trying to get a permit to enter Israel on business for some time. The authorities did not respond to his request despite the fact that he met all the required criteria.On June 4, 2012, Gisha wrote (Hebrew) to the Commander of the Gaza District Coordination Office on Mr. Jaber’s behalf, requesting that his entrance to Israel for business meetings be arranged. The letter enclosed documents attesting to his being a trader, his planned business meeting with representatives from an Israeli company and the volume of his purchases. Almost two months later, on July 25, 2012, the petitioner was summoned to a “security discussion”. Though no security preclusion was found and despite many reminders sent to the authorities on the matter, Mr. Jaber still received no response to his request.

It was only ten months after the request was first sent, when the State Attorney’s Office was due to submit its response to the petition filed on Mr. Jaber’s behalf (Hebrew), that the respondents finally reviewed the request on its merits. When no reason was found to deny the request, the state pledged to issue Mr. Jaber a permit to enter Israel within a month, subject to the deletion of the petition.

Related documents:
Notice regarding consent for deletion of petition (Hebrew)