Following HaMoked petition: after a months-long ban, the State re-allows access into the Seam Zone of Palestinian business owners and employees whose work place is beyond the Separation Barrier

On June 19, 2024, HaMoked re-petitioned the High Court of Justice (HCJ) to allow owners of businesses located inside the Seam Zone and their employees to cross the Separation Barrier with their dedicated entry permits. This as most of those in this category had been banned from crossing for over 8 months, since the outbreak of the bloody war on October 7, 2023, preventing them from operating their businesses and causing them increasing financial losses. The Palestinians in question are those who have work permits for the Seam Zone, i.e., the West Bank enclaves trapped between the Separation Barrier and the green line border, in which a military permits regime has been implemented with the approval of the HCJ for over a decade. This discriminatory permit regime applies only to Palestinians, bans most from entering the Seam Zone – which is an integral part of the West Bank – and compels those who seek entry there, to obtain in advance a dedicated military permit, subject to the military’s restrictive and complex procedures. Concurrently, HaMoked petitioned anew to allow Seam Zone farmers to enter their trapped lands, and the petition is still pending.

The petition on behalf of business owners and their employees was filed some six months after the HCJ rejected in December 2023 HaMoked’s previous petition on the matter – ruling that the military “considers all of the circumstances and strikes the required balances…” – during which time, the closure of the Seam Zone remained in place regarding the vast majority of business owners and employees, numbering some 5,000 people. Only a small number were allowed entry during this period, subject to quotas of 500 people in each category – owners and employees – and subject to various new criteria, including age (35 or over) and family status (married with at least one child).

In a preliminary response to the new petition, submitted August 5, 2024, the State announced that “having reconsidered the matter… it was decided in early May to no longer apply the criteria of age and family status and to allow the entry of all holders of business and business employment permits, and this subject to a current and individual examination of each request and the need underlying the permit”. The State also provided data whereby until that time, some 654 business permits were approved out of some 900 that were valid in 2023, and also some 974 employment permits out of some 6,500 that were valid in 2023. On October 9, 2024, a few days before the scheduled hearing, the State updated that as of that date, over 800 business permits had been approved and over 1,460 business employment permits. Additionally, the State announced that the number of refusals was not high and that no further requests were pending decision at the civil administration.

Therefore, on October 10, 2024, HaMoked filed an agreed-upon request to cancel the hearing and issue a judgment, On October 14, 2024, the Court deleted the petition and recorded the State’s notice whereby it was decided to cancel the restrictions and allow entry into the Seam Zone to all holders of permits for business owners and employees.