A Keighley man claims harsh immigration laws are denying his daughter and son-in-law the right to a family life.

Neil Ashford, of Greenhead Road in Utley, says the couple – who have a five-month-old son – can only live together for three-month spells.

And he added his 27-year-old daughter Jessie’s prospects for living permanently with her husband are bleak unless the problem can be resolved.

“It is an unjust situation that breaches their right to a family life,” said Mr Ashford.

Jessie is currently with her Palestinian husband, Ghassan Najjar, in the West Bank.

“Every road I’ve been down leads to a dead end in terms of securing our future as a family,” said Mrs Najjar, who first went to Palestine in 2011 when she was working with a group documenting attacks by militant Jewish settlers.

She met Ghassan during a visit to his village in the West Bank, and the couple married in September last year.

Mrs Najjar said she and Ghassan can’t permanently live together because of immigration law changes brought in from June 2012, and she returns to Keighley whenever she must leave Palestine.

“For him to move to England I’d need to have a job with an annual income of at least £18,600,” she explained.

“I’ve worked full-time since I left school at 16, but have never earned an amount like that. Now, due to having a son, Watan, it’s impossible for me to work full-time not having my husband here.

“I can only see my husband by travelling to Palestine, but it’s not easy to get residency to live there. All the cases I know of have taken more than a decade. We’re left with the option of a three-month tourist visa.

“This situation is very hard, and it causes me a lot of stress when planning a trip. My husband is missing a huge amount of his son’s development. He missed the birth and the first three months of Watan’s life.”

She said her husband’s village was attacked by what she terms ‘Zionist settlers’ last Tuesday, adding Ghassan was subsequently arrested and detained by Israeli soldiers.

“He was arrested for no reason, along with other people who are active in the village,” she said.

“My husband works a lot to raise morale and resist the occupation. He is continually targeted to intimidate him into stopping. Thankfully, he was released the same day, but the threat is constantly there.”