Egyptian-Israeli marriage restrictions threaten individual personal freedoms and the two state’s tenuous peace agreement.
By Alyxandra Stanczak
Impunity Watch Reporter, Middle East
CAIRO, Egypt– Yesterday, the State Counsel’s Supreme Administrative Court, Egypt’s supreme court, upheld a decision to strip the citizenship from an Egyptian man who married an Israeli Jewish woman. Nabih el-Wahsh, the lawyer who brought the case to court, said this decision is aimed at protecting Egyptian youth and Egypt’s national security.
Grounds for this decision were found in a 2008 fatwa, or religious edict, issued by Egyptian Islamic scholar Sheikh Farahat Al-Mongy, which commented on the sinfulness of Egyptians who marry Israelis. Shortly after this fatwa, a proposition was made during Egypt’s 2008 People’s Assembly (the lower house of Egypt’s Parliament) by three members who proposed a law to strip the citizenship of Egyptians who marry Israelis of any faith. Despite the timing of the ruling, which coincides with Israel’s hostile actions against an aid flotilla headed for Gaza, this decision is not meant as a direct response to that action; rather it is purportedly designed to solidify national security concerns.
Approximately 30,000 Egyptian men are married to Israeli women. The court asked the Ministry of the Interior to present for approval all marriages between Egyptians and Israelis to the cabinet in order to give consideration to national security and personal freedom. If the court’s recommendations arising from this case are followed, it would necessarily result in a threat to personal freedom guaranteed under the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, Article 16 – the right to family protection (which includes marriage) by society and State. This decision also could result in an arbitrary denial of marriage rights by Egypt’s state body under the guise of national security.
The implementation of this decision would have a far-reaching effect – not only on individualcitizens of both Israel and Egypt, but could serve to undermine the tenuous peace between the two countries. Egypt’s President Sadat and Israel’s Prime Minister Begin entered into a peace treaty initially in 1979, which has provided the foundation for later security arrangements.
This decision shows what Egyptian lawyer and human rights activist Negad al-Boraldescribes as mixed messages about Israel which result in “the [Egyptian] president congratulat[ing] Israel’s president in national holidays yet it punishes the people for having relationships with Israel.”
For more information, please see:
Associated Press – Egypt restricts marriage to Israelis – 6 June 2010
Al Jazeera News – Egypt targets marriages to Israelis – 5 June 2010
BBC News – Cairo court rules on Egyptians married to Israeli women – 5 June 2010
Jewish Journal – Egypt-Israel love fatwa highlights split on peace – 11 January 2008
