(14 May 2006) SHOTLIST
1. Interior shot of Israeli High Court
2. Men placing map on board
3. Close-up map
4. Orna Cohen, lawyer of Israeli human rights group Adallah, in court room
5. Judge entering court room
6. Wide of court room
7. Cohan leaving court room
8. SOUNDBITE: (English) Orna Cohen, lawyer of Israeli human rights group Adallah
"It is a very sad day for Human Rights in Israel today. The High Court refused to give legal remedy against a law, which is a racist law, which deprives individuals the most basic and fundamental rights based on their ethnicity. I think today the Israeli High Court failed to deliver the most basic role it should have, which is to give citizens guarantees for their constitutional rights."
9. Cutaway media
10. SOUNDBITE: (English) Taleb A-Sana, Knesset member:
"This law is void because it is against the constitution, against the basic right to have a family, to let a wife and her husband live together. But we see that the Arab citizens can't have a family here. And I think this is discrimination, this is racism, and the High Court gave legitimate decision (legitimacy) to this discrimination (discriminatory) policy."
11. Wide shot of hallway
STORYLINE
Israel's high court narrowly upheld on Sunday a law that bars West Bank Palestinians from living with their spouses and children in Israel.
The law, passed in 2002 at the height of Israeli-Palestinian fighting, is believed to have kept hundreds and possibly thousands of Palestinians from living with spouses and parents who are Arab citizens of Israel.
The 11-judge panel handed down a 6-5 ruling stating that the Israeli government has the right to prevent West Bank Palestinians from moving to Israel to unite with their families.
The government has repeatedly said that the measures are due to security concerns, but the restrictions also cut to a more sensitive demographic issue: the fear that the country's Jewish majority will be threatened if too many Palestinians are granted citizenship.
Critics of the law have slammed it as racist and discriminatory. Amnesty International called on Israel to repeal the law, calling it "explicitly discriminatory."
"It is a very sad day for Human Rights in Israel today," said Orna Cohen, an Israeli human rights lawyer, adding, "Today the Israeli High Court failed to deliver the most basic role it should have, which is to give citizens guarantees for their constitutional rights."
Knesset (Israeli Parliament) member Taleb A-Sana said he was equally disappointed with the court decision, which he called racist and discriminatory: "This law is void because it is against the constitution, against the basic right to have a family to let a wife and her husband live together.
Israeli Arabs are free to travel freely throughout the country, something that is difficult, and sometimes impossible, for West Bank and Gaza Palestinians.
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