1/ Love under Israeli apartheid.
Israel segregates Palestinians across different legal statuses to divide & rule:
- Citz. of Israel
- Res. of Jerusalem
- West Bank / Gaza
- Refugee/diaspora (+ foreign passports)
The category you belong to impacts who you can be with.
2/ Israel does this to geographically separate Palestinians from one another, break social, cultural & political cohesion & undermine a collective Palestinian identity.
Localizing each community or "status" is meant to undermine a connected NATIONAL movement for liberation.
3/ The other reason is to limit the number of Palestinians in Palestine.
Israel doesn't allow Palestinian refugees/diaspora to visit their homeland, let alone live in Palestine with a partner.
But any Jewish person anywhere in the world can return and live as they please.
4/ Regulating who you love, have as a partner and whether you can be together is the crux of this tiered system of fragmentation.
Israel has made it almost impossible to change your legal status in order to be with someone if they are from another legal category.
5/ For each combination of categories, Israel has placed draconian measures to prevent people from sharing a life together.
Suffocation through bureaucracy, revoking residency, outlawing places to live, refusal to grant visas or just physical separation are some of those ways.