Author: PTI
Publication: The Times of India
Date: June 6, 2010
URL: http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/world/middle-east/Egyptian-men-married-to-Israelis-may-lose-citizenship/articleshow/6016723.cms
A top court here on Saturday directed the government to take necessary steps
to strip Egyptian men married to Israelis of their citizenship as it upheld
an earlier ruling over the issue amid growing resentment against the Jewish
state.
In a ruling that cannot be appealed, Judge
Mohammed al-Husseini of the Supreme Administrative Court on Saturday upheld
last year's verdict of a lower court that the interior minister must look
into the cases of Egyptian men married to Israeli women, and their children,
in order to "take the necessary steps to strip them of their nationality."
The court asked the government to consider
each case separately.
Lawyer Nabil al-Wahsh said he originally brought
the case to the court so as to prevent the creation of a generation "disloyal
to Egypt and the Arab world."
Children of such marriages "should not
be allowed to perform their military service," he said.
The lower court ruling last year had forced
the government to appeal against the case, saying it was for parliament to
decide on such matters.
Even as analysts debate the number of Egyptians
married to Israelis, it is estimated to be around 30,000.
Egypt is among the few Arab states that has
full diplomatic relations with the Jewish state following a peace deal with
Israel in 1979.
Hundreds of Egyptians married Israeli women
after thousands of them moved to Israel in search of work following their
return from Iraq due to the 1990 Gulf War.