HCJ 10650/03 Abu Gwella et. al v

Petitioner’s parents moved to a larger house, in the Silwan neighborhood [in East
Jerusalem], and the Petitioner and her family moved in with them. The Petitioner and
her family were allotted a separate dwelling housing unit, with a separate kitchen and
bathroom, in the house in Silwan.
17. In 2000, the Petitioner and her family moved to a rented apartment in Kafr Aqeb [in
East Jerusalem]. After moving there, the Petitioner and her spouse found work in the
neighborhood: she as a caregiver for an elderly person and he as a maintenance worker
in the al-Muatadi Obstetrics Hospital.
18. As the years passed, the Petitioner and her husband had seven children: the four eldest
children were born between 1989 and 1995 in Ramallah, and the three youngest
children were born in 1999, 2000, and 2002 in Jerusalem.
19. In 2000, the Petitioner submitted a request for child registration at the office of
Respondent 2 for each of her children (except the infant daughter, who had not yet
been born, and was later added to the request) and a request for family unification on
behalf of her husband. Attached to the requests were documents indicating that the
center of the family’s life was in Jerusalem. In February 2001, the Petitioner’s request
for family unification with her husband was denied. In May 2001, the appeal of the
refusal to grant family unification was denied, and, in August 2001, the request to
register the children was rejected. The two requests were denied for the reason that
“center of life was not proven”.
The letters of refusal from Respondent 3 are attached hereto and marked P/1, A-C
respectively. The Petitioners refer the Honorable Court to the heading of Appendix
P/1 C and its contents, in which Respondent 3 relates to the request for “registration
of children” and not the request for family unification.
20. The Petitioner again appealed Respondent 3’s rejection of the application for family
unification that she submitted. The clerk at the office instructed the Petitioner to write
a letter indicating that she appeals the decision and to attach updated proofs indicating
that Jerusalem is the center of her life. She did so. Because the Petitioner submitted
the documents to the office, she does not have a copy of the appeal. The Petitioner has
not received a response to her appeal from the office of Respondent 3.
21. It should be mentioned that the application for family unification and the request to
register the children were not submitted before 2000 because of a dispute with the
Petitioner’s husband’s family over requesting an Israeli identity card for him. Because
of this dispute, the Petitioner and her children lived for a certain period in the
Petitioner’s parents’ home in Abu Tor, while her husband, the father of the children,
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