Young Arab women
Young Arab womenIsrael news photo: Flash 90

The government has extended for another six months the ban on Palestinian Authority Arabs trying to obtain Israeli citizenship by marrying Israeli-Arabs.

Known by pro-Arab rights leaders as the “Family Unification” policy, it is designed to halt what used to be massive use by Arabs to increase their percentage among Israeli citizens by allowing Arabs from Judea, Samaria and Gaza to marry Israeli-Arab citizens living within the 1949 Armistice Lines.

The Cabinet’s Ministerial Committee for Security Affairs’ decision was made one day after the previous ban expired.

The committee asked the Minister of Justice "to work towards early finalization of a law on family unification, which will meet the national security and long-term interests of the government of Israel," according to a statement from the office of the Prime Minister.

Enabling PA Arabs to obtain citizenship through marriage gives them all rights as Israelis. Before the ban, Bedouin men, who practice polygamy, brought in women to help them raise their increasing presence in the Negev, where the Bedouin and Arab birthrate surpasses that of Jews.