| ID Card Confiscation in Jerusalem - Official Israeli
Data for 1999 BADIL Resource
Center
6 April 2000
For Immediate Release
| Month (1999) |
# ID Cards |
Reason |
| January |
68 |
Moved to the WBG: 25
Live abroad/hold foreign citizenship: 43 |
| February |
86 |
Moved to the WBG: 29
Live abroad/hold foreign citizenship: 57 |
| March |
28 |
Moved to the WBG: 2
Live abroad/hold foreign citizenship: 26 |
| April |
27 |
Moved to the WBG: 13
Live abroad/hold foreign citizenship: 14 |
| May |
73 |
Moved to the WBG: 25
Live abroad/hold foreign citizenship: 48 |
| June |
55 |
Moved to the WBG: 11
Live abroad/hold foreign citizenship: 44 |
| July |
27 |
Moved to the WBG: 15
Live abroad/hold foreign citizenship: 12 |
| August |
12 |
Moved to the WBG: 1
Live abroad/hold foreign citizenship: 11 |
| September |
17 |
Moved to the WBG: -
Live abroad/hold foreign citizenship: 17 |
| October |
6 |
Moved to the WBG: -
Live abroad/hold foreign citizenship: 6 |
| November |
9 |
Moved to the WBG: -
Live abroad/hold foreign citizenship: 9 |
| December |
3 |
Moved to the WBG: -
Live abroad/hold foreign citizenship: 3 |
| Total 1999 |
411 |
Moved to the WBG: 121
Live abroad/hold foreign citizenship: 290 |
| Total 1995-1999 |
3,096* |
|
*corresponding to an estimated number of 12,384
Palestinian individuals directly affected.
Source: Israel Ministry of
Interior/Population Registry
A comparison of the 1999 figure with official
Israeli figures for previous years (1998: 788; 1997: 1067) suggests two major trends in
the Israeli policy of ID card confiscation in Jerusalem:
- A general decline of the number of ID cards
confiscated;
- A significant decrease in the number of ID cards
confiscated from Palestinian Jerusalemites residing in West Bank areas outside the Israeli
determined city borders. This trend suggests that repeated assurances by Israeli officials
to adopt a more flexible definition of "center of life in the city" are being
implemented by the Interior Ministry.
- The confiscation of ID cards from Palestinian
Jerusalemites living abroad or from those who have acquired permanent residency or
citizenship elsewhere continues to be an issue of concern. This approach stands in marked
contrast to that applied to Israeli Jews who are permitted to hold residency/citizenship
elsewhere.
While 1999 data suggests that local and
international scrutiny and protests against the Israeli policy of administrative ethnic
cleansing through ID card confiscation from Palestinian Jerusalemites have been effective,
it is important to emphasize that several important issues remain yet to be
resolved.
- The Israeli government and Interior Ministry must
define what it means to maintain an "appropriate connection" to Jerusalem.
According to the 31 October 1999 statement by Israel's Attorney General to the High Court,
the permanent residency of Palestinians who can demonstrate an "appropriate
connection" to Jerusalem will not be revoked. In the absence of a definition,
however, Palestinians will not know how to protect and maintain their residency rights in
Jerusalem under Israeli law.
- The Israeli authorities must provide a mechanism
for the restitution of the residency rights of the more than 3,000 Palestinian
Jerusalemites and their dependents, who had become victims of this illegal policy between
1995-2000. The same mechanism must apply to restitute the thousands of Palestinian
Jerusalemites whose residency rights were cancelled by the Israeli occupation in previous
periods.
- Israel must recognize the inalienable right of
Palestinians to live in their capital Jerusalem. Despite the reduced number of ID cards
confiscated in the last quarter of 1999, and the new policy, Israeli law remains
unchanged. Under the 1974 Entry into Israel Regulations the right of Palestinians to
freely live in their hometown remains insecure.
For more information contact: BADIL Resource
Center, PO Box 728, Bethlehem, West Bank, Palestine; Tel/fax. 274-7346; email, info@badil.org. |