Palestinian Jerusalem on the Agenda NOW!
A Campaign Initiated by the AIC-Department for Residency & Family Reunification During the 26 years of occupation, the Israeli authorities have carried out a policy of gradually separating East Jerusalem and its Palestinian residents from the surrounding West Bank: the closure of East Jerusalem for residents of the West Bank and Gaza Strip still continues after the signing of the “historical” agreement between Israel and the PLO, and Israeli laws and regulations defining who can become a Jerusalem resident has turned Palestinian residents of Jerusalem into a vanishing species.
Jerusalem residents are NOT INCLUDED in the November 1992 Agreement which grants six months renewable visas to spouses and minor children of Palestinian residents in the West Bank and Gaza Strip, if they entered the country before August 1993, according to which permanent residency will be granted to those covered by the previous agreement and conditions for future family reunifications will be somewhat improved.
We demand the rapid integration of Jerusalem as part of the agenda of the ongoing peace negotiations. Any postponement of the discussion of the issue of Jerusalem residents will widen the gap between the legal realities for Jerusalem and the future autonomous territories, and to the perpetuation, or even an increase, of the violations of Palestinian residency rights in Jerusalem. |
