Document #1167908
IRB – Immigration and Refugee Board of Canada (Author)
For published information on the
above-mentioned subject please find the attached documents.
According to a representative of the
Embassy of Israel in Ottawa, the Israeli passport does not mention
the ethnic origin of its holder, but the Israeli identity card does
(24 February 1992). A representative of the Palestine Human Rights
Information Centre in Jerusalem reported that there is no official
(printed) mention on the Israeli passport of the ethnic origin of
the person holding such a passport (24 Feb. 1992). The Israeli
identity card provides information on the ethnic origin of the
holder, i.e., an ethnic group such as Arab, Jew or Druze
(Ibid.). This source added that there is no need to have the
information on the passport in order to know the ethnic origin of
the passport holder since the form one has to fill out to obtain a
passport contains that information (Ibid.). Therefore, any
Israeli official can have access to that information
(Ibid.).
The above information was corroborated by a
representative of Middle East Watch, by a specialist on Palestinian
Affairs in Jerusalem and by a legal adviser for the Association for
Civil Rights in Israel (24 Feb. 1992). These sources were unable to
provide information on whether the Israeli Foreign Ministry has
authorized its embassies abroad to alter passports
(Ibid.).
For further information please find the
attached documents.
Association for Civil Rights in Israel,
Jerusalem. 24 February 1992. Telephone Interview with
Representative.
Embassy of Israel, Ottawa. 24 February
1992. Telephone Interview with Representative.
Middle East Watch, New York. 24 February
1992. Telephone Interview with Representative.
Palestine Human Rights Information
Centre, Jerusalem. 24 February 1992. Telephone Interview with
Representative.
Specialist of Palestinian-Israeli
Affairs, Jerusalem. 24 February 1992. Telephone Interview.
Juriste-Classeur
Nationalité. 1990. edited by Closset, Charles and Michel
Verwilghen. Paris: édition Techniques.
Middle East International. 12
July 1991. Shahak, Israel. "The Israeli Citizens are Not
Equal."
Passport Handbook. 1987. Utrecht:
Kluwerpers.