Arresting illegal residents. (Archive photo)
Photo: A.A.
Palestinians wait at checkpoint. (Archive photo)
Photo: Amit Shabai
Wife, daughter of deported Palestinian wait for him at home
Hamdi El-Hilu from Ramallah is expelled in police raid. One way or another I will come home, he says
"I cannot live without my wife and daughter. I will do anything to return to my family," said Hamdi El-Hilu after he was deported to the West Bank by Israeli police.
El-Hilu, who lives in southern Israel, is married to an Israeli and has a three-year-old daughter. He was expelled after being arrested on Wednesday following a raid on the quarry at which he works.
El-Hilu had previously requested Israeli citizenship on account of his being married to R., a Jewish-born Israeli. After his deportation extradition he asked Physicians for Human Rights to intervene on his behalf. He is aware that the chances are slim that he will ever receive citizenship but now he is far from his family and hopeless. "If I can't go back legally, with the authorities' permission, I will find another way back," he said.
Citizenship Law
Citizenship Law, which prevents reunification of families with both Israeli and Palestinian members prolonged again
R. is in their home in southern Israel, waiting anxiously by the phone. "We were always afraid that this would happen," she said. "I am scared and I don't know what to do. I don't know if he is eating properly or drinking. The police won't even tell me where he is. But I must be strong for him and for our daughter."
The ever-so-complicated love story between 30-year-old R. and El-Hilu, from a village near the West Bank city of Ramallah started seven years ago in Jerusalem. "We met when I was living on the streets," says R. "He walked through the park I was staying in and started talking to me. After we met several times we started to feel a connection and started dating. He helped me rent an apartment and even paid the security check for me. He helped me back on my feet. I owe him my life."
I married a person, not a nation
Five years ago the two were married under Muslim law. She says she knew exactly what she was getting into: "we had been dating for two years and it wasn't easy. He was always worried that people might think that he is with me for the citizenship. But I was marrying a person, not a nation or a religion. We both believe in the same god. His family accepted me very well. My family was a different story. Only my mother knew about it."
Three-and-a-half years ago their daughter was born and they moved to the South. They tried to lay low until he received his citizenship. "In Jerusalem," she says, "we were persecuted. We couldn't be seen together. We could only relax after we moved."
El-Hilu's arrest came out of the blue. The quarry he works at was raided and he was sent to Hebron. "He is from Ramallah, not Hebron. What is he supposed to do there?" asked R.
R. is not sure whether she should hope for the best and wait, or to join him where he is. "I don't want to change my daughter's routine, and it would be dangerous to go there with her, but I also don't want her to be without her father. She is a smart child. She knows something is wrong," she said.
Negev District Police said that El-Hilu had no ID or permit on him and therefore he was taken to the Shama'a checkpoint so he could return to the territories.
Ali Waked contributed to the report
