Gaza resident manages to leave the Strip for graduate studies in Sweden following a petition filed by Gisha
June 15, 2017
Mr. W.J, a Palestinian living in the Gaza Strip, enrolled in a graduate program in systems management in Sweden. He was awarded a scholarship, and received a visa to enter Sweden, and Jordan, ahead of the academic year, set to begin in August 2017. In order to get to Jordan, W.J. needed to obtain permission from Israel to travel from Gaza to Allenby Bridge, via Israel. He applied for a permit, and waited for six weeks, but received no response. Seeing as his Swedish visa was only valid until June 14, 2017, there was reason for concern that he might miss this opportunity for academic studies.
Gisha tried to contact the Gaza Coordination and Liaison Administration (CLA) on behalf of W.J., but were told only that the application was being processed. Left with no other choice, and with the hopes of preventing W.J. from missing such a rare and valuable opportunity to study abroad, Gisha filed a High Court petition on his behalf (Hebrew). Justice Sohlberg immediately ordered (Hebrew) the state to respond within several days, and provide a satisfactory explanation for its failure to respond to the application.
Following the petition filed by Gisha, W.J. was summoned for a security interrogation at Erez Crossing. When he appeared for the scheduled interrogation, the officials at the crossing turned him away, on the grounds that he did not bring his cellphone. Nevertheless, and despite the fact that the security interrogation never took place, the state approved his request to travel abroad via Israel. On June 13, 2017, W.J. took a shuttle from Erez Crossing to Allenby Bridge, and after a long journey, flew from Jordan to Sweden, where he is now preparing to begin his studies.
Once the remedy sought in the petition had been granted, Justice Sohlberg ordered that the petition be deleted (Hebrew), ruling: “The respondent’s reply indicates that they are experiencing a severe backlog. However, this cannot justify ignoring the petitioner’s repeated communications.”
W.J.’s case demonstrates the foot-dragging exhibited by the Gaza CLA in recent months with respect to permit applications from Gaza residents. Many applications for permits to exit Gaza for a specific engagement with a set date are not processed in time, causing residents to miss important opportunities and events, such as consulate interviews, attending academic institutions, weddings, and more. In addition, it is extremely difficult to reach the office of the CLA public liaison officer to make inquiries about the status of an application, either by phone or by e-mail. Therefore, Gisha is forced to file multiple petitions and threaten the state with legal action, simply to induce a response. These legal measures are sometimes the only way to ensure residents receive a timely response and manage to arrive at their destinations. Gisha has written and complained (both Hebrew) about this issue to the Coordinator of Government Activities in the Territories and the head of the Gaza CLA, but no response has been received to date.
