Press Releases

3 December 1999 
BADIL Resource Center 

As Israeli Interior Minister Sharansky continues to give press statements promising to halt of  the Israeli policy of ID card confiscation from Palestinian Jerusalemites, lawyers and human rights activists have not yet been able to obtain concrete and binding information about the way in which the Israeli government will handle Palestinian residency rights in the occupied city in the future. This and the fact, that the Interior Ministry has refrained from presenting its official response to the Israeli Supreme Court - overdue since September 99 in the framework of the pending public petition against the policy of ID card confiscation -suggests that the Israeli political leadership has not yet reached a consensus on the new policy and procedures. 

In the meantime, ID card confiscation from Palestinian Jerusalemites continues, although appearantly at a somewhat lower rate than in the past. According to the new data released by the Interior Ministry's spokesperson to Ha'aretz journalist Amira Hass, 394 ID cards were confiscated between January - 17 October 99. Of these ID cards, 121 were revoked because their holders had moved to the West Bank and Gaza Strip outside the Israeli defined municipal borders of the city, and 273 were found living abroad. 

ID Card Confiscation: January 99 - 17 October 99 

January   68 
February  86 
March   28 
April   27 
May   73 
June   55 
July   27 
August   12 
September  17 
October 1-17      1 
Total    394 

Comparison with Previous Years 

1995       91 
1996     739 
1997   1067 
1998     788 
1999 (up to 17-10)   394 
Total:   3079 (i.e. approximately 12,376 Palestinians directly affected by the Israeli policy of ID card confiscation) 

For more information contact: BADIL Resource Center, PO Box 728, Bethlehem, Palestine; tel/fax 274-7346; email: [email protected].