Interior Minister Ayelet Shaked has approved the reunification of 442 Palestinian families in a move that will grant them legal status in Israel, Palestinian media outlets reported Monday.
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While the families will not be granted citizenship, they will be able to enter and exit the country freely, as well as open Israeli bank accounts and obtain Israeli driver's licenses.
In a conversation with the Palestinian Wafa news outlet, Palestinian Authority Civil Affairs Commissioner Hussein al-Sheikh confirmed the requests pertained to families from the Palestinian territories and the Gaza Strip. He clarified the authorizations were Palestinians aged 16 and over and called for Palestinians in similar situations to submit requests for family reunification.
This was the first time in 12 years that such requests were handled and approved. The government failed to extend a law barring Palestinians married to Israelis from acquiring citizenship, and as a result, the interior minister is currently charged with authorizing such requests on an individual basis.
A senior PA Civil Affairs official told Israel Hayom he was optimistic the process of reunification would be an ongoing one. He surmised Shaked had authorized family reunification for "a few hundred families who filed a request prior to 2003. There are around 1,000 families with identical statuses, and we expect them all to be approved. This is a golden opportunity for thousands of Palestinians to realize the right of return. The average Palestinian family numbers over five people, so that we're talking about many thousands who will get to realize their right of return in this manner."
Criticism of the move from the Right was quick to come. Opposition Leader and Likud MK Benjamin Netanyahu tweeted: "[Prime Minister Naftali] Bennett brought back the 'right of return' to survive and to please [Ra'am party leader] Mansour Abbas and the Islamic Movement."
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