Legal challenges by the UK government to Palestinians' attempts to travel to the UK to be reunited with their families are becoming increasingly aggressive, a campaigner has said.
Ghassan Ghaben, co-founder of Gaza Families Reunited, said immigration lawyers with whom he works have noticed an increased determination to challenge successful appeals by Palestinians.
Mr Ghaben was speaking after two recent court decisions regarding cases of Palestinians looking to come to the UK.
In the first case, the Home Office went to the High Court to block a 67-year-old woman from coming to Britain for medical treatment after she had successfully appealed against being refused entry clearance on a six-month visa. The cost of the treatment would have been paid for by her daughter.
More recently, a grandfather and three grandchildren won their appeal to come to the UK to live with the children’s aunt after their parents were killed in an Israeli air strike in Gaza.
Their initial attempt to apply for settlement in the UK was refused and they had to go through two immigration tribunals. The Home Office has yet to indicate whether it will appeal.
Mr Ghaben said cases such as those are indicative of the Home Office’s determination to go to court to stop Gazans from coming to the UK.
The 35 year old, who has a background in law and banking, said his view has been shaped by speaking to lawyers, as well as personal experience of his family’s ongoing appeal to come to the UK.
“I know lawyers who have been working on family reunion cases for over 20 years,” he told The National. “They have the same view, which is that the Home Office position with the Gazan cases is much more aggressive than it used to be. They are more willing to put in resources and to try to defeat those cases.
“They go really hard, they want to defeat every single case, which previously hasn't been the case. They appeal every single case. If any of the Gazan families win, they always appeal.”
Both of the recent cases involved families appealing under Article 8 of the European Convention on Human Rights, which protects an individual's right to family life. A key test applied is whether a relationship involves dependency that goes beyond normal emotional ties.
British Palestinian Committee
Mr Ghaben said this involves finding a lawyer who can successfully persuade a judge their clients are deserving and also taking on a Home Office appeal. “This means going from court to court and trying to secure a lawyer. This can be really exhausting for them.”
Mr Ghaben, a senior community advocacy officer for the British Palestinian Committee, traced the hardening of the UK’s position to the first half of 2024, when Gaza Families Reunited got the support of MPs for its campaign and secured 100,000 signatures for a petition.
Mr Ghaben said figures in the Labour Party told campaigners that while a Ukraine-style settlement scheme might not be introduced if they got into government, “they would make sure that the immigration rules will be eased for families to be reunited in the UK in general, and they haven't done that”.
He explained that Gaza Families Reunited is now folding into a renewed effort by the British Palestinian Committee advocating a Gaza settlement scheme, under which 5,000 displaced people could come to the UK to be reunited with their families.
“That’s a really small number compared to other schemes that have been introduced,” he said.
The Home Office has been approached for comment.
