Israel/Occupied Territories: Rights and obligations associated to the Israeli identity card issued to Palestinian residents of East-Jerusalem

Three sources stated that the holders of an identity card have the right to vote in municipal elections, to the National Insurance (i.e., welfare, child care, retirement benefits, disabled pension, etc.), to residency, to education, to work, etc. Holders of an Israeli identity card must pay taxes at the national and municipal level. They are exempted from military service. In practice, however, Palestinians residing in East-Jerusalem and holding an Israeli card face systematic municipal bureaucratic discrimination aimed at restricting the demographic growth of the Palestinian population in East-Jerusalem.

The sources are: the Director of Badil: Resource Center for Palestinian Residency & Refugee Rights (9 Dec. 1998); the Development Director of B'Tselem, an Israeli organization which monitors and documents human rights violations in the West Bank and Gaza Strip (8 Dec. 1998); and, a researcher on Jerusalem with The Law, a Palestinian Human Rights organization based in Jerusalem. The Law is a group of Palestinian lawyers to promote human rights and further the principles of the rule of law and defends Palestinians (8 Dec. 1998).

The researcher on Jerusalem with The Law provided examples of discrimination against Palestinian residents of East Jerusalem: a Palestinian resident of East Jerusalem is considered a "permanent resident," a status similar to a foreign worker coming from Western Europe. The researcher added that even the foreign worker from Western Europe would not face as many bureaucratic dicriminatory practices as a Palestinian resident of East Jerusalem. Another example of discrimatory practice is related to building permits. Palestinians from East Jerusalem are entitled to build only two-story houses, while Jewish residents are allowed to build eight-story houses. According to the researcher, this policy is aimed at restricting Palestinian demographic growth in East Jerusalem and ultimately, to force them to leave.

The researcher for The Law continued by stressing that Palestinian Jerusalemites whenever they come into contact with State organs such as the Interior Ministry or the National Insurance Institute have to prove that Jerusalem is the centre of their life. They must show the authorities various documents such as arnona tax reciepts, electric bills etc. The premise is that all Arab residency in the city are suspect. It is discriminatory, as Jews do not face the same problems, and it causes considerable inconveniences. Concerning housing, the shortage for the Palestinian population is over 20,000 units.  

This Response was prepared after researching publicly accessible information currently available to the Research Directorate within time constraints. This Response is not, and does not purport to be, conclusive as to the merit of any particular claim to refugee status or asylum.

References

Badil: Resource Center for Palestinian Residency & Refugee Rights, Bethleem, West Bank. 9 December 1998. Telephone interview with the Director. Badil is a Palestinian non-profit non-governmental organization which aims at providing  critical and progressive information and analysis on the question of Palestinian residency rights and refugees.

B'Tselem, Jerusalem, Israel. 8 December 1998. Telephone interview with the Development Director. The organization was founded in 1989 and has published over 65 reports on a wide variety of human rights issues, and engaged in various advocacy campaigns.

The Law, Jerusalem, Israel. 8 December 1998. Telephone interview with the researcher on Jerusalem. The Law seeks to protect human rights through an intensive program of documenting and following up abuses; and through providing legal and financial help to people in need.