I first started paying attention to Israel’s 2003 Citizenship and Entry Law when a close friend of mine, a nurse at a Jerusalem hospital, told her family that she wanted to marry a man she loved from Bethlehem.
She has Israeli citizenship, and met her Palestinian husband at the hospital while caring for his sick father in the intensive care unit. Her family was concerned about the law and what it would mean for the couple’s future children. Being born to a Palestinian and an Israeli would make for a legally tricky upbringing, and in the event the couple divorced, matters would get even more complicated. All of this played a role in her eventual decision to end the relationship.
For those it affects, the Citizenship and Entry can have life-altering consequences. It is a piece of temporary legislation barring Palestinians hailing from the West Bank and Gaza from citizenship through marriage to Israeli citizens. The law was introduced in 2003 during the second Palestinian intifada, and its supporters argue that it is essential for preservingIsrael’s security. They rely on data showing that in the past dozens of Palestinians have used marriages to Israelis to make it easier to plan or carry out attacks. But the numbers are relatively low, particularly in comparison with the number of innocent families affected by the law. According to HaMoked, an Israeli NGO, more than 9,000 families in Israel and East Jerusalem are affected by it.
There is simply no hiding the law’s use as a tool for discriminating against Palestinian citizens of Israel by depriving them even a basic freedom to marry whomever they choose in the same way as their fellow citizens. The law is meant to maintain the separation between Palestinians inside of Israel and in the Palestinian Territories. And that separation helps to maintain a de-facto superior status for Jewish citizens over Arabs. Yair Lapid, Israel’s foreign minister, confirmed this in a tweet he posted in the run-up to a recent session in the Knesset, in which an effort to renew the law failed. Mr Lapid wrote: “There is no need to hide from the essence of this law. It is one of the tools meant to ensure a Jewish majority in the state of Israel. Israel is the nation-state of the Jewish people, and our goal is for it to have a Jewish majority. In addition, the law is important for security.”
There is simply no hiding the law’s use as a tool for discriminating against Palestinians
Israel’s new coalition government, which includes an Arab party, is so broad, diverse and politically incoherent that it could not unite enough votes to renew the law. And so, for the first time since it was passed, it was allowed to expire.
Some of the Members of Knesset who voted to try to renew it were Arabs. Unsurprisingly, they attracted significant anger from Israel’s Palestinian community, including social media influencers. After the backlash, Mansour Abbas, leader of Raam, the Arab party in the coalition, claimed that his party reached a compromise within the government, in which it would back the law in exchange for temporary residency for 2000 people, social rights such as medical insurance to a few thousand more, and only extending the law for half a year instead of one. But those concessions seem marginal compared to the gains the citizenship law’s eventual fall is now making. The short-sightedness that saw Arab votes back a law like this was alarmingly out of touch with the sentiments of many Palestinians in Israel, who want equal rights on a more fundamental level.
More from Dr Anwar Mhajne
Now that the law has fallen, there is considerable excitement in the air. The law’s opponents are happy about a supposed step forward for Palestinian rights. Even the law’s supporters are happy, because its failure speaks to the larger failures of Israel’s first coalition government to include an Arab party.
I fear the most likely outcome is that the law’s failure will not mean much in the end. The government will find a way to legislate another law, and a host of bureaucratic obstacles still remain for Arab applicants for Israeli citizenship – plenty to still make life difficult for those who are now supposedly better off.
The continuation of the status quo would only empower groups who prefer to stay in the opposition instead of making compromises. For it to mean anything for Israel’s Palestinians, and ultimately for the broader peace effort, the law’s fall must be an opportunity for meaningful change.
THE%20HOLDOVERS
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UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
The biog
Hobby: Playing piano and drawing patterns
Best book: Awaken the Giant Within by Tony Robbins
Food of choice: Sushi
Favourite colour: Orange
Benefits of first-time home buyers' scheme
- Priority access to new homes from participating developers
- Discounts on sales price of off-plan units
- Flexible payment plans from developers
- Mortgages with better interest rates, faster approval times and reduced fees
- DLD registration fee can be paid through banks or credit cards at zero interest rates
Killing of Qassem Suleimani
More from Rashmee Roshan Lall
Killing of Qassem Suleimani
Places to go for free coffee
- Cherish Cafe Dubai, Dubai Investment Park, are giving away free coffees all day.
- La Terrace, Four Points by Sheraton Bur Dubai, are serving their first 50 guests one coffee and four bite-sized cakes
- Wild & The Moon will be giving away a free espresso with every purchase on International Coffee Day
- Orange Wheels welcome parents are to sit, relax and enjoy goodies at ‘Café O’ along with a free coffee
Tree of Hell
Starring: Raed Zeno, Hadi Awada, Dr Mohammad Abdalla
Director: Raed Zeno
Rating: 4/5
More on Quran memorisation:
Another way to earn air miles
In addition to the Emirates and Etihad programmes, there is the Air Miles Middle East card, which offers members the ability to choose any airline, has no black-out dates and no restrictions on seat availability. Air Miles is linked up to HSBC credit cards and can also be earned through retail partners such as Spinneys, Sharaf DG and The Toy Store.
An Emirates Dubai-London round-trip ticket costs 180,000 miles on the Air Miles website. But customers earn these ‘miles’ at a much faster rate than airline miles. Adidas offers two air miles per Dh1 spent. Air Miles has partnerships with websites as well, so booking.com and agoda.com offer three miles per Dh1 spent.
“If you use your HSBC credit card when shopping at our partners, you are able to earn Air Miles twice which will mean you can get that flight reward faster and for less spend,” says Paul Lacey, the managing director for Europe, Middle East and India for Aimia, which owns and operates Air Miles Middle East.
Brief scores:
Toss: Sindhis, elected to field first
Pakhtoons 137-6 (10 ov)
Fletcher 68 not out; Cutting 2-14
Sindhis 129-8 (10 ov)
Perera 47; Sohail 2-18
Founders: Ines Mena, Claudia Ribas, Simona Agolini, Nourhan Hassan and Therese Hundt
Date started: January 2017, app launched November 2017
Based: Dubai, UAE
Sector: Private/Retail/Leisure
Number of Employees: 18 employees, including full-time and flexible workers
Funding stage and size: Seed round completed Q4 2019 - $1m raised
Funders: Oman Technology Fund, 500 Startups, Vision Ventures, Seedstars, Mindshift Capital, Delta Partners Ventures, with support from the OQAL Angel Investor Network and UAE Business Angels
HOW TO WATCH
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%3Cp%3E-%20US%20Congress%20is%20divided%20into%20two%20chambers%3A%20the%20House%20of%20Representatives%20and%20Senate%3C%2Fp%3E%0A%3Cp%3E-%20435%20members%20make%20up%20the%20House%2C%20and%20100%20in%20the%20Senate%3C%2Fp%3E%0A%3Cp%3E-%20A%20party%20needs%20control%20of%20218%20seats%20to%20have%20a%20majority%20in%20the%20House%3C%2Fp%3E%0A%3Cp%3E-%20In%20the%20Senate%2C%20a%20party%20needs%20to%20hold%2051%20seats%20for%20control%3C%2Fp%3E%0A%3Cp%3E-%20In%20the%20event%20of%20a%2050-50%20split%2C%20the%20vice%20president's%20party%20retains%20power%20in%20the%20Senate%3C%2Fp%3E%0A
COMPANY%20PROFILE
%3Cp%3E%3Cstrong%3ECompany%20name%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%203S%20Money%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3EStarted%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%202018%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3EBased%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%20London%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3EFounders%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%20Ivan%20Zhiznevsky%2C%20Eugene%20Dugaev%20and%20Andrei%20Dikouchine%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3ESector%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%20FinTech%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3EInvestment%20stage%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%20%245.6%20million%20raised%20in%20total%3C%2Fp%3E%0A
BRIEF SCORES:
Toss: Nepal, chose to field
UAE 153-6: Shaiman (59), Usman (30); Regmi 2-23
Nepal 132-7: Jora 53 not out; Zahoor 2-17
Result: UAE won by 21 runs
Series: UAE lead 1-0
COMPANY%20PROFILE
%3Cp%3E%3Cstrong%3EName%3A%20%3C%2Fstrong%3ESmartCrowd%0D%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3EStarted%3A%20%3C%2Fstrong%3E2018%0D%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3EFounder%3A%20%3C%2Fstrong%3ESiddiq%20Farid%20and%20Musfique%20Ahmed%0D%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3EBased%3A%20%3C%2Fstrong%3EDubai%0D%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3ESector%3A%20%3C%2Fstrong%3EFinTech%20%2F%20PropTech%0D%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3EInitial%20investment%3A%20%3C%2Fstrong%3E%24650%2C000%0D%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3ECurrent%20number%20of%20staff%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%2035%0D%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3EInvestment%20stage%3A%20%3C%2Fstrong%3ESeries%20A%0D%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3EInvestors%3A%20%3C%2Fstrong%3EVarious%20institutional%20investors%20and%20notable%20angel%20investors%20(500%20MENA%2C%20Shurooq%2C%20Mada%2C%20Seedstar%2C%20Tricap)%3C%2Fp%3E%0A
How much of your income do you need to save?
The more you save, the sooner you can retire. Tuan Phan, a board member of SimplyFI.com, says if you save just 5 per cent of your salary, you can expect to work for another 66 years before you are able to retire without too large a drop in income.
In other words, you will not save enough to retire comfortably. If you save 15 per cent, you can forward to another 43 working years. Up that to 40 per cent of your income, and your remaining working life drops to just 22 years. (see table)
Obviously, this is only a rough guide. How much you save will depend on variables, not least your salary and how much you already have in your pension pot. But it shows what you need to do to achieve financial independence.
'Saand Ki Aankh'
Produced by: Reliance Entertainment with Chalk and Cheese Films
Director: Tushar Hiranandani
Cast: Taapsee Pannu, Bhumi Pednekar, Prakash Jha, Vineet Singh
Rating: 3.5/5 stars
RESULT
West Brom 2 Liverpool 2
West Brom: Livermore (79'), Rondón (88' )
Liverpool: Ings (4'), Salah (72')
Ferrari 12Cilindri specs
Engine: naturally aspirated 6.5-liter V12
Power: 819hp
Torque: 678Nm at 7,250rpm
Price: From Dh1,700,000
Available: Now
