Dokument #1067050
IRB – Immigration and Refugee Board of Canada (Autor)
The following information was provided to
the Research Directorate in a 19 February 1998 telephone interview
with a representative of the Association for Civil Rights in Israel
(ACRI) in Jerusalem. Although there are some services to help women
in Israel who are victims of domestic violence, there are no
specific social services designed to help mixed couples threatened
with violence from family members who disapprove of the marriage.
Moreover, Israel is a very small country, so it is difficult for a
person to find places where he or she cannot be located by family
members. With regard to police protection, it would be very
difficult for the police to protect a person against threatened
violence if the threat came from an entire family. The
representative added that leaders of Arab municipalities in Israel
have complained in the past that the government services they
receive are inferior to those received by Jews, including police
services. They also feel that the police in Israel tend to view
Arabs more as potential suspects than as citizens. The
representative added that although there are Arabs in the Israeli
police force, Arab police officers may share the same social
attitudes as the Arab community in general, including disapproval
of mixed marriages, which may prejudice their willingness to
provide protection in such a case, and that Jewish police officers
may share the same social attitudes as the Jewish community in
general, including disapproval of mixed marriages.
The following information was provided to
the Research Directorate in a 20 February 1998 telephone interview
with a professor of sociology specializing in the Middle East at
Queen's University in Kingston, Ontario. It is unlikely that the
Israeli police would assign high priority to such a case,
especially if there are no Jews involved. The police tend to view
matters relating to personal status and family disputes among the
Arab population as matters to be resolved by the families and the
religious communities involved.
This Response was prepared after
researching publicly accessible information currently available to
the Research Directorate within time constraints. This Response is
not, and does not purport to be, conclusive as to the merit of any
particular claim to refugee status or asylum.
References
Association for Civil Rights in Israel,
Jerusalem. 19 February 1998. Telephone interview with a
representative.
Professor of sociology specializing in
the Middle East, Queen's University, Kingston, Ontario. 20 February
1998. Telephone interview.
The following information was provided
during a 15 January 1998 telephone interview with the Executive
Director of the Palestinian Human Rights Monitoring Group (PHRMG)
in Jerusalem. The PHRMG is a Palestinian, independent,
non-governmental organization working to end human rights
violations committed against Palestinians in the West Bank, Gaza
Strip, and East Jerusalem, regardless of those responsible. The
members of the Monitoring Group also work to strengthen democracy
and civil society for the Palestinian people.
The Executive Director stated that a
Palestinian living in East-Jerusalem, who was granted Israeli
citizenship and accused publicly of being a spy or a collaborator
by Palestinian groups, would have to leave East-Jerusalem where he
could be reached by Fatah, or other Palestinian groups. Jerusalem
is politically and demographically divided between east, mainly
Arabs, and west, mainly inhabited by Jews. The Executive Director
added that people spying for collaborating with Israel would
receive protection from the government and be safe living in
Israel. These people could easily live in Israeli cities such as
Nazareth, Haifa, Jaffa, Beersheva, Accra, etc., where the
Palestinian Authority, the Fatah and other Palestinian groups would
not be able to reach them.
The Executive Director indicated that in
recent years over 7,000 East-Jerusalem Palestinians took up Israeli
citizenship for civil rights or socio-economic reasons. Under the
Oslo Accord the Palestinian Authority is not allowed to arrest
Israeli citizens in Jerusalem, including people who spy or
collaborate with Israel, and the Israeli government takes this
situation seriously. This information is corroborated by a 22 July
1996 report from Agence France Presse (AFP),
Abdel Salam Hirbawi, a Palestinian with Israeli citizenship, was arrested Friday in East Jerusalem and taken to the autonomous town of Ramallah where he was jailed for 48 hours. Israel, which bars Palestinian police from operating in Israeli-annexed East Jerusalem, slammed the arrest as a "kidnapping," sealed off Ramallah and refused to hand out extra work permits to West Bankers. After intense pressure, police handed over Hirbawi on Sunday.
According to a 22 July 1996 report from
Naomi Segal and published by the Jewish Telegraphic Agency,
Israel had demanded Hirbawi's release, saying that his arrest was in violation of the Israeli-Palestinian autonomy agreements, which forbid the Palestinian Authority to arrest Israeli citizens or to operate inside Jerusalem.
In a 13 July 1995 report on Palestinian
collaborators, including one called Nabil, and published The
Jerusalem Report indicate that
Nabil is one of a growing number of fugitive collaborators who, with their families, are being secretly resettled in a multi-million dollar operation by the Defense Ministry in Jewish cities, mixed Jewish-Arab communities and Arab towns in Israel-and even abroad. At the end of 1994, police put the number of relocated collaborator families at 618. Today, observers estimate there are over 1,000... Already, fugitive collaborators can be found in Tel Aviv, Jerusalem, Haifa and Beersheba, in smaller towns like Afulah, Lod and Holon, and in the Arab towns of Tirah, Shfaram, Nazareth and the Beduin township of Rahat, near Beersheba. In the poor neighborhoods of South Tel Aviv and adjacent Jaffa, there are 160 to 200 collaborator families.
For additional information on Palestinian
collaborators and the assistance provided to them by the Israeli
government, please consult the attached 13 July 1995 report from
The Jerusalem Report.
This Response was prepared after
researching publicly accessible information currently available to
the Research Directorate within time constraints. This Response is
not, and does not purport to be, conclusive as to the merit of any
particular claim to refugee status or asylum.
References
Agence France Presse (AFP). 22 July
1996. "Israel Lifts Blockade on Ramallah." (NEXIS)
The Jerusalem Report. 13 July
1995. Peter Hirschberg. "Voyage of the Damned," p. 12.
Jewish Telegraphic Agency (JTA). 22 July
1996. Naomi Segal. "Palestinians Say Israeli Arab Taken from
Jerusalem is Free." (NEXIS)
Palestinian Human Rights Monitoring
Group (PHRMG), Jerusalem. 15 January 1998. Telephone interview with
the Executive Director.
Attachment
The Jerusalem Report. 13 July
1995. Peter Hirschberg. "Voyage of the Damned," pp. 12-14.