RAMALLAH, West Bank, 17 May 2006 — Jasmin Avissar and Osama Zatar fell in love, got married and hoped to live happily ever after — but she’s an Israeli Jew and he’s a Palestinian Muslim and now they have nowhere to call home. The couple’s “Romeo and Juliet” struggle to live together is a rare tale of cross-border love in a land riven by years of violence between Israel and Palestinians.
Avissar, a 25-year-old classical dancer, met Zatar, 26, when they both worked at an isolated animal shelter on the border between Jerusalem and the occupied West Bank.
They wed two years ago, but Israel has not granted them permission to live in the Jewish state. So they live in the West Bank city of Ramallah but on borrowed time — Avissar’s Israeli Army-issued permit to cross into the Palestinian-run city is temporary.
Israel denies residence permits to virtually all Palestinian men under-35 under a law, passed during a five-year-old Palestinian uprising, aimed at tightening security and preventing bombings. The Israeli military also generally bars Israelis from Palestinian-ruled territory. It is rare for Jews to marry Arabs either in Israel or the occupied territories, and the few who do tend to keep quiet about a union frowned upon by many Israelis and Palestinians. “We’re in a Kafka-esque situation. All we want is the right to live together as a married couple,” said Avissar, who crosses an Israeli checkpoint almost daily to work as a waitress in Jerusalem.
“The authorities are constantly trying to keep us apart”, said Zatar, a sculptor who sports a dark ponytail. “We love each other and plan a future together, if we can have one”. That “if” rings through their lives — their uncertain situation makes talking about buying a house, or having children impossible.
The couple have appealed to Israel’s High Court to force the government to allow them to live together indefinitely, either in Israel or in the Palestinian territories. Their chances of success are uncertain.
On Sunday, Israel’s High Court narrowly upheld a law that denies Israeli residency to many Palestinians who marry Israelis, rejecting appeals against a statute that critics say violates human rights and is racist.
In the couple’s separate petition, lawyer Michael Sfard quotes from Shakespeare’s tragic romance, comparing the feud between the Montague and Capulet families to the conflict between the Israelis and Palestinians.
“Being held a foe, he may not have access to breathe such vows as lovers used to swear; And she as much in love, her means much less to meet her new-beloved anywhere”, Sfard writes, quoting from Shakespeare’s play. Sfard argues that under the United Nations declaration on human rights and international law “the appellants have the basic right to live a family life and free choice of spouse”.
Sabine Hadad, a spokeswoman for Israel’s Interior Ministry, said that under Israeli law Zatar was ineligible to apply for Israeli residency. Few exceptions were made, she added. The law was drafted after security officials argued that an earlier policy of granting citizenship or residency to most Palestinians married to Israelis could help bombers enter Israel.
Most of those affected are Israeli Arabs who tend to be more likely than Jews to marry Palestinians from the West Bank. Human rights groups estimate more than 25,000 such families often live apart when Israel denies residency to one or more members. “The state has the right not to give everyone citizenship, but the way the system works today is racist and harmful”, said Sharon Abraham Weiss, a lawyer for the Israeli Association for Civil Rights.
Israel grants citizenship to anyone who can prove that at least one of his or her grandparents was Jewish. A fifth of Israeli citizens are Arabs.
Weiss accused Israel of restricting visas to Palestinians to limit the number of Arabs who live in the Jewish state, an allegation officials deny. With their lives on hold, Avissar and Zatar have struggled to make a decent living in Ramallah.
Zatar has been unable to find regular work, a common problem for many Palestinians in the West Bank’s weak economy, even before a US-led boycott on foreign funds to a Palestinian government led by the Hamas.
The couple’s main income now comes from what Avissar makes serving tables at the Jerusalem coffee shop. But the couple still dream of a happily ever after.
Avissar hopes to open a ballet school for Palestinians — if Israel ever grants her a long-term permit to stay in the West Bank. Her family in Israel has accepted her marriage. Some of Zatar’s relatives had accused him of betraying his people by marrying an Israeli; now they accept her. “Many people look at me as a stereotype Israeli, as a potential soldier or settler, just like all Palestinians in the eyes of Israelis are potential terrorists”, said Avissar. “We hope to show everyone there’s a different way”.
