Report: "Israel Approves Hundreds of Family Reunification Requests" Israel today

Creeping right of return: The Palestinian media reported yesterday on 442 Palestinian families who applied for a family reunification procedure - and were approved by Interior Minister Ayelet Shaked. They will gain legal status in Israel.

This means that while those Palestinians will not receive citizenship, they will be able to enter and leave the country freely, and even open bank accounts and issue a driver's license.

For the first time in 12 years

The minister responsible for relations with Israel, Hussein a-Sheikh, confirmed in a conversation with the Palestinian news agency Wafa that these are requests for the unification of families from the Palestinian Authority in Judea and Samaria and Gaza.

This is the first time in 12 years that such requests have been processed and approved.

This is due to the temporary order approved by the government every year, which was repealed due to the overthrow of the Citizenship Law, and hence the handling of such requests was transferred for individual approval by the Minister of the Interior.

Minister a-Sheikh clarified that the permits issued are for Palestinians aged 16 and over.

He also called on more Palestinians of the same status as the families who received the permit to apply for family reunification.

Expected: 1,000 families

A senior Palestinian population official told Israel Today that he was optimistic about continuing the process in the future. 

He estimated that "there are several hundred families who submitted the application before 2003. There are about 1,000 families of the same status, and we expect all of them to be approved. This is a golden opportunity for thousands of Palestinians to exercise the right of return. An average Palestinian family numbers more than five." Many will be able to exercise their right of return in this way. "

On the right side of the political map in Israel, as expected, the move was sharply criticized yesterday.

Opposition leader and MK Benjamin Netanyahu tweeted: "Bennett has restored the 'right of return' to survive and please Mansour Abbas and the Islamic Movement."