St. Yves Cancels a “Travel Ban” Order in the Israeli High Court Issued Against a Palestinian Student Studying Abroad

• Date: 2017-06-23

Freedom of movement is a basic universal right to every human being. Everyone has the right to leave any country including his own, and has the right to return to his country. Everybody has also the right to move freely within their own country; however, since the occupation of Palestine, Israel has put into practice policies and procedures that severely restrict Palestinians from moving freely under the pretext of “security”.

When Palestinians from the West Bank want to leave the Palestinian occupied territories, they are confronted with discriminative profiling and their application for permits is easily refused. In addition to permit refusal, Israeli authorities impose “Security Ban” and “Travel Ban” on individuals and entire families based on , “security” reasons.

A recent “Travel Ban” case handled by The Society of St. Yves - Catholic Center for Human Rights is an example of how these policies are practiced randomly and massively.

Mr. R.S, a 22 year old Palestinian, studying in Jordan approached St. Yves during the month of March 2017, when he was informed that he could not go back to Jordan to fulfill his university studies because he had a “Travel Ban” order issued against him by Israeli authorities. R.S had completed 2 years of his studies and had another 2 years left until graduation.

St. Yves filed an urgent request to the civil administration requesting them to immediately cancel this order, stressing the illegality of the ban and that it could jeopardize this student’s future. Two months later, the Israeli civil administration rejected St. Yves appeal, without any consideration for the effect it could have on this student’s life. Accordingly, St. Yves appealed before the Israeli High Court demanding it to cancel the travel ban order that was issued against R.S for no particular reason, also highlighting the serious repercussions it could have on the student’s future. The request was granted by the court and cancelled the travel ban, enabling Mr. R.S to go back to Jordan and resume his university studies.