Residency Rights: The Statistics
- ID Card Confiscation Statistics: Statistics to August 1998
- Family Reunification Permits Granted for East Jerusalem, 1967-1995
According to information provided by the spokesperson of the Israeli Interior Ministry in Jerusalem to Ha'aretz, Israel confiscated 117 ID cards from Palestinian Jerusalemites between 1 January - 31 May 1999.
Although the new data suggest that the number of ID cards confiscated in 1999 is smaller than in previous years, it is still too early to draw a definite conclusion. This because analysis of the pattern of previous years shows that the bulk of ID card confiscations occurs during the summer, when Palestinians working and living abroad come to visit their families in Jerusalem (for example, 346 ID card confiscations were recorded by the Ministry in the first eight months of 1998, while four months later, in December, the number of confiscations stood at 788).
The data released for 1999 also shows that Israel continues to violate the residency rights of the native Palestinian population in Jerusalem, despite local and international protest and the fact that the Israeli High Court is expected to present its ruling on the policy of ID card confiscation in September or October this year.
For additional information see BADIL RESOURCE CENTER.