Israel's Supreme Court has upheld a law that bans Palestinians who marry Israeli Arabs from obtaining Israeli citizenship or even residency rights.

Under current Israeli law, when an Arab Israeli marries a Palestinian they either live apart or must move to another country to live together long-term.

Various human rights groups challenged the law in the Supreme Court on the grounds that it violates the rights of Palestinian spouses to a proper family life.

But the court has ruled that human rights cannot override Israel's security concerns, with one judge writing that: "Human rights are not a prescription for national suicide."

Human rights groups have attacked the court decision, and accused the court of stamping its approval on a racist law that will harm the lives of families whose only sin is the Palestinian blood that runs in their veins.

"It is a dark day for the protection of human rights and for the Israeli Supreme Court," attorneys Dan Yakir and Oded Feller from the Association for Civil Rights in Israel (ACRI) said in a statement.