Following Gisha’s petition, Israeli grandparents attended their grandson’s wedding in Gaza; court imposed cost order of 4,500 ILS in favor of Gisha
October 15, 2017
Z. and A. are an elderly couple who live in Israel. They have children, grandchildren, and even great grandchildren who live in the Gaza Strip. Unfortunately, due to Israel’s restrictive policy on visits between relatives living in Israel and those living in Gaza, Z. and A. have scarcely seen their family members in recent years. In October 2017, a chance to enter Gaza arose, as they were invited to attend their grandson’s wedding in the Strip.
Israel’s criterion permitting entry into Gaza to attend a relative’s wedding had, until recently, included grandparents of the bride or groom. However, in March 2016, following a petition on behalf of the same family, Israel determined that grandparents did not constitute “immediate” relatives of their own grandchildren, and consequently forbade them from attending their grandchildren’s weddings in Gaza.
For this reason, the Coordinator of Government Activities in the Territories (COGAT) denied the couple’s application to attend their grandson’s wedding in Gaza, laconically stating that the application “failed to meet the criteria.” Thus, on October 15, 2017, a week before the wedding, Gisha petitioned the High Court of Justice (Hebrew) on behalf of the couple and their adult daughter who was to accompany them. The petition also sought a general remedy in the form of revocation of COGAT’s current blanket ban on grandparents attending their grandchildren’s weddings in Gaza. The petition was quickly scheduled for a hearing on October 19, 2017.
The day before the hearing, on October 18, 2017, the state notified Gisha that “the competent agencies within the IDF have decided to permit the petitioners’ exit to the Gaza Strip for the purpose of participating in their grandson’s wedding… as an exception, for humanitarian reasons, given the unique circumstances of the case.”
In view of this notice, Gisha asked to have the petition deleted and the hearing cancelled, subject to a ruling on costs incurred in filing the petition. Gisha noted that its arguments on the general remedy concerning revocation of the overall policy would be reserved. The petition was deleted (Hebrew) under these terms.
COGAT initially permitted the petitioners to enter Gaza for no longer than three days. Only once pressured to do so by Gisha did they agree to allow the petitioners to spend three full days in Gaza (during which the various wedding ceremonies were due to take place) and exit on the morning of the fourth day.
On October 24, 2017, the petitioners entered Gaza with their adult daughter, and attended their grandson’s wedding. This gave them the opportunity to see their entire extended family, whom they had not seen for years, and meet two great grandchildren, born within the last two years, for the very first time.
* Update: Following the successful deletion of the petition, Gisha requested that a costs order be ruled in its favor. On November 20, 2017, the High Court approved Gisha’s request and issued the state with a cost order of 4,500 ILS for Gisha’s expenses. In the decision, the court registrar stated: “I see fit to mention that the petitioners were forced to submit a similar petition in 2016, when the respondents also changed their position following the petition… In light of this fact, it was to be expected that the respondents provide a clear explanation as to why they have again changed their position following the petitioner’s plea before the High Court of Justice. Such an explanation was not provided, which, in my opinion, justifies issuing a higher costs order.”
