RAMALLAH, West Bank — The Israel Knesset approved Israel's controversial citizenship law in a 45-15 vote on March 10. The law denies West Bank and Gaza Palestinians married to Palestinians in the 1948 territory (Arabs of Israel) the right to gain citizenship or residency status.

The law affects thousands of Palestinian families, as it prohibits any man or woman from the West Bank and Gaza married to an Israeli citizen from living in Israel and requires them to obtain temporary residence permits issued by the Israeli Ministry of Interior.

Sami Abu Ali, 43, from the Gaza Strip, married his cousin in the Negev region, in the south of Israel, in 2001. He fears he would be separated from his family in Beersheba and deported to the Gaza Strip because he does not have residency.

He told Al-Monitor, “I got married in 2001, and I was living with my family in Beersheba without a residency permit. In 2009, the Israeli police arrested me. And when they learned that I was from Gaza, they deported me to Gaza. I was forced to stay there away from my family for 10 years.”

Abu Ali pointed out that during his stay in Gaza, he applied for a family reunification request and a residency permit, but his request was rejected. In September 2019, he re-entered Beersheba illegally. “I could not stay away from my children anymore. When I left Israel, I had a 2-year-old daughter; she was 12 years old [when I came back],” he said.

“Seven of my cousins ​​who are married to relatives in the Negev are facing the same predicament. One of them has been separated from his family in the Negev for 15 years after he was deported back to Gaza. His wife visits him in Gaza once every five months. His daughter will marry soon, but he will not be able to attend her wedding,” he said.

Majida al-Ajouri, 52, hails from Nablus in the northern West Bank. She has been living in east Jerusalem for 21 years after she married a Palestinian from there. Even after her divorce in 2018, she remained in east Jerusalem as she got custody of her children. Under Israeli law, Ajouri has a residency permit to live in east Jerusalem, which is renewable every six months.