Poraz said that despite his desire to protect the interests of the gay community, he could not allow the ministry to be flooded with requests from illegal aliens, "based on the claim that they are living with an Israeli partner, to allow them to receive civil status in Israel."

Last March Poraz introduced a rule that homosexual foreign men and women who could not marry their partners in Israel, but lived with them as a recognized couple, could become permanent residents through a phased process lasting seven years.

The Population Administration would hold a hearing each year to examine the sincerity of the couple's relationship. After one year of cohabitation, the regulation stated, the foreign partner would be allowed to live in Israel as a temporary resident, and enjoy social benefits like medical insurance.

This altered the previous strict policy of the ministry, which did not allow foreign partners of Israelis any civilian rights and obliged them to hold tourist visas.

Poraz' statement followed a case of L.G. from Colombia, and his Israeli partner P.R., publicized in Haaretz yesterday. L.G. is a candidate for deportation because the interior ministry sees him as an illegal alien, and has doubts about the sincerity of the relationship.

The case has been petitioned in the High Court of Justice by the Association of Civil Rights in Israel (ACRI).

ACRI cited in the petition a legal precedent, which stated that "the right for a family life is a basic right recognized by international law, and Israeli constitutional law... and the court should not treat lightly the violation of human dignity involved in the forced separation of the couple."