According to the proposed resolution, children of foreign workers age 10 and up, who were born in Israel, have been enrolled in the state school system, "and have struck roots in Israeli society and culture," will receive from the interior minister a permanent residence permit. Pines estimates that about 2,000 children meet these criteria. Their parents and younger siblings are to receive temporary residence permits that will be renewed annually. At age 21, upon their release from service in the Israel Defense Forces, the workers' children will be able to become citizens of the state. By virtue of their children's army service, the parents would then be entitled to permanent resident status, as well. As temporary residents, the parents would be able to hold normal jobs and receive medical insurance and additional social benefits.

The proposed resolution stipulates that naturalization of the children of the foreign workers is conditional upon their parents being able to present documents at the Population Registry bureaus confirming that their initial entry to Israel was legal (even if they now illegally reside in the country). The proposed resolution is being termed a "one-time-only arrangement, for the time being," that will expire at the end of the calendar year.

Before this proposed resolution is submitted to the ministerial committee on population administration, the cabinet will have to decide at its next session on the new members of the committee, which was initiated by Prime Minister Ariel Sharon. Aside from the interior minister, ministers Shalom Simhon, Abraham Hirchson and Matan Vilnai will also join. Staying on in the committee will be "hold-overs" from the term of the previous interior minister, MK Avraham Poraz: ministers Meir Sheetrit, Tzipi Livni, Gideon Ezra and Natan Sharansky. The committee's recommendations do not require confirmation by the plenum.

Interior Minister Pines told Haaretz last week that his proposed resolution has Sharon's support. "At a few meetings I held with the prime minister, he asked me, `When are you finally going to find a solution for the children of the foreign workers?'" Pines said. According to the proposed resolution, Sharon leaves it to the ministers to decide to "alter the existing policy or not."

The tasks imposed on the committee, which the cabinet is expected to approve, includes - as Sharon's proposal puts it - the "formulation of a position on the matter of granting status to children of illegal residents." The committee will be given a mandate by the government "to determine criteria and the procedure by which some type of status (residency or work permit, temporary residency, permanent residency or citizenship) in those instances in which it will be decided, if it will be decided, to alter the currently observed policy."

Overcoming obstacles

The idea of granting legal civil status to the children of workers and to give their parents - most of whom now reside in Israel unlawfully - an opportunity to receive work permits and temporary residency in Israel, was an initiative of former interior minister Avraham Poraz. During his tenure, he was unable to overcome the obstacles placed by right-wing ministers, who constituted a majority in the cabinet, and he failed to gain final approval for the initiative. Pines' proposal differs slightly from that of Poraz. The previous interior minister restricted the number of children of foreign workers who would be entitled to permanent resident status in Israel to approximately 650.

However, "there are about 2,000 children of foreign workers who meet the criteria presented in the proposed resolution," Pines says. He thus proposes naturalizing only children born in Israel; Poraz, in contrast, proposed granting citizenship also to children who arrived in the country as infants.

If children of foreign workers do become residents and citizens of Israel, the government of Israel would be setting a historic precedent: For the first time in its history, foreign workers would be entitled to the right to citizenship the country. "This is not an easy decision," said Minister Ezra yesterday. "You cannot disregard the humane aspect of the problem of the children of foreign workers, to whom the State of Israel must offer a solution. But on the other hand, the decision to regulate their status could impair the Jewish character of Israel."

Pines-Paz is cognizant of the demographic conflict that might arise in the course of committee debate. "The Jewish character of the State of Israel will not change after the children of foreign workers receive legal status here, since we are talking about such insignificant numbers," he explains. "Based on the humane outlook of Judaism, it is incumbent on us to grant legal status to children born in Israel, who speak the Hebrew language, who have become part of us, part of Israeli society, and will even serve in the Israeli army."