The Interior Ministry refused to reinstate the Israeli citizenship of about 1,000 women who married Palestinians and moved to Palestine, reported Haaretz newspaper.
The ministry said that one possible repercussion would be complications in permanent status negotiations with the Palestinians.
The ministry informed the High Court of Justice of its position in response to a petition by the Association for Civil Rights in Israel (ACRI), which demands that these women have their Israeli citizenship reinstated, the paper said.
Supreme court president, Aharon Barak, last year harshly criticized the ministry and said that if the women involved were Jewish Israeli women who moved to California to live with their husbands, the ministry would not even consider stripping them of their citizenship.
Barak called the policy "discriminatory and arbitrary," said the paper - Albawaba.com
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