Occupied Territories [sic.]”.67 It is estimated that out of 140,000 unification requests submitted, only 45,000 were successful.68 In 1973, this policy was tightened further, with the introduction of new criteria which the military government refused to disclose, but which resulted in a fall of successful applications, down to an average of 1,000 per year.69 In 1983, Israel claimed that this procedure had deviated from its original purpose – ostensibly to address the displacement created by the 1967 War70 – and was now being used in relation to families formed after 1967. In response, two new criteria were introduced: an administrative parameter, which favored collaborators and Palestinians willing to invest in the territory;71 and a humanitarian one, the precise definition of which has never been stipulated.72 The intent of the new policy was simple: to “reduce, as much as possible, the approval of family unification applications”.73 If approved, the resident was required to apply for a visitor’s permit for their spouse in order to enable them to enter the area and arrange their status, with a fee of 479 Shekels (approximately $140) payable upon filing of the request.74 During the often lengthy period prior to approval of the application, the non-resident spouse was permitted to live “legally” within the occupied Palestinian territory only if in possession of a short-term visitor’s permit, which were extremely difficult to gain. Upon leaving the occupied Palestinian territory, the non-resident spouse had to wait at least three months before being able to re-enter the West Bank, and at least six months to re-access the Gaza Strip. For those affected, Israel now exerted full control over family life, again downgrading a human right into a “privilege” bestowed by an occupying power. In 1980, Israel decreed that those seeking residency under the family unification process would not be permitted to visit the occupied Palestinian territory until a decision on the application was reached. As a result, families were left with four options: to live apart; to relocate together to another 67 Kadman and Pearson, Families Torn Apart, Separation of Palestinian Families in the Occupied Territory, 30. 68 Ibid. 69 B’Tselem, Perpetual Limbo: Israel’s Freeze on Unification of Palestinian Families in the Occupied Territories, 8. 70 Families Torn Apart, 29. 71 B’Tselem, Perpetual Limbo: Israel’s Freeze on Unification of Palestinian Families in the Occupied Territories, 9. 72 Israel did not publish any case in which a resident of the Territories have obtained family unification for special humanitarian cases. 73 Kadman and Pearson, Families Torn Apart, Separation of Palestinian Families in the Occupied Territory, 31. 74 B’Tselem, Perpetual Limbo: Israel’s Freeze on Unification of Palestinian Families in the Occupied Territories, 9. 30