Palestinians from GazaI, Ibrahim and Shaden Awad and their 3 children must stay in France
Ibrahim and Shaden Awad, Palestinians from the Gaza Strip, have lived in France since 2016 and 2018 respectively, where they came on student visas. Both successfully completed their master’s degrees in linguistics at the University of Rennes II, their eldest daughter was born in Gaza, the two youngest in Rennes. After an asylum request rejected in 2020, in January 2022 they filed with the Prefecture of Ille-et-Vilaine a request for exceptional admission to stay (on the basis of article L. 435-1 of CESEDA ). They meet all the conditions for obtaining a residence permit mentioning “private and family life”: more than 5 years of presence in France, children in school, perfect command of French and perfect social integration, and promise of employment for Ibrahim.
Response from the Ille-et-Vilaine prefecture on May 12, 2023: refusal of stay accompanied by an obligation to leave the territory (OQTF)! That same day in Gaza, 35 people including 7 children were killed by Israeli bombings.
Ibrahim and Shaden obviously appealed the decision to the Administrative Tribunal. The hearing scheduled for January 23 was postponed to an unspecified later date.
Despite eight years spent in France, two master’s degrees, professional experience, three children aged 7, 5 and 3 attending school and a promise of employment, the prefecture claims that their circumstances do not justify their admission to the stay. As for promises of employment, the prefect believes that nothing prevents future employers from contacting the French authorities in Jerusalem directly for a request to introduce a foreign worker…
The height of prefectural cynicism can be read in the prefecture’s defense brief produced on January 19: “ The couple does not demonstrate that they have no ties to the country of origin, and do not provide any relevant evidence which would demonstrate that their children would be prevented from continuing their education in their country of origin. “. “ While it is true that the security situation in the Gaza Strip is very degraded (…) it is not the same in the West Bank, where, although scattered clashes are noted, particularly in the northwest of the territory, the situation is generally stable, and it seems conceivable that those interested could settle there. »
Must we lack the slightest humanity to this extent for a Prefect of the Republic not to hear the despair of this family who lives every day in the anguish of losing a loved one in Gaza where intensive bombings have continued for over of 4 months. This is the case for Shaden, one of whose younger brothers was killed on December 24.
It is also dismaying to see the total ignorance of a prefect of the Republic of the situation in Palestine, ignoring that Palestinians from Gaza cannot go to Jerusalem and are prohibited from staying in the West Bank by the Israeli occupation.
The AFPS provides its full support to local associations (Human Rights League, MRAP, etc.) who are organizing in the city of Rennes to prevent this ignominy from taking place. She particularly supports the AFPS Rennes, fully involved in this united approach to obtain the regularization of the Awad family.
A cyberaction in solidarity with Shaden and Ibrahim Awad put online by the Cyberacteurs association.
>> See and participate in the cyber action
In order to express its solidarity with the family and to refuse their expulsion from France, the France Palestine Solidarity Association asks you to sign this petition as massively as possible to support the approach of the Rennes collective.
The national office of the AFPS
February 10, 2024
