Article74 Magazine

The amendment submitted by Azmi Bishara (Democratic Front - National Democratic Alliance) on 9 July 1997, proposes to add to the existing Law of Entry Into Israel (1952) a paragraph reading: 
“... The Minister of Interior will not cancel the permanent residency permit of any person born in Jerusalem, his or her spouse, or any other person of whom one or more of his/her parents was born in Jerusalem. ... This article will remain valid for the next two years.” 

In the explanation attached to the amendment, MK Bishara states: “The formal status of a permanent resident is based on the assumption that s/he is a foreigner entering the country ... which obviously is not the case with Jerusalem residents, for whom Jerusalem is their ‘homeland’ ... In the last year the Minister of Interior has used the Law to cancel the residency permit of many Jerusalem residents ... It seems that prior to the final status negotiations, Israel is conducting a policy of ‘silent deportation’, in order to reduce to a minimum the number of Palestinian residents in Jerusalem...” 

At the Knesset vote on the proposed amendment in the afternoon of July 9, only a small number of Knesset members were present, mainly due to the current crisis of Netanyahu’s government coalition which - following the reshuffling of minister post - did not yet have a new Head of Coalition. Netanyahu himself did not participate in the vote, other Coalition lists (e.g. the new immigrants’ Israel B’Alia) were also absent. Minister of Interior Eli Suissa, outraged by this disarray, refused to give his speech against the amendment proposal. The vote passed with 27 Mks voting in favor, one MK voting against, the rest absent or abstained. 
In the next step, the law proposal must be discussed by one of the relevant Knesset Committees; if things go well, the proposal will be handled by the Knesset Committee on Interior Affairs headed by MK Saleh Tarif (Labor) who supports the proposal. Then the proposal must pass two additional Knesset votes in order to become law. The minimum time required for this procedure is two months - i.e. due to the Knesset summer break, a final decision cannot be expected before September 1997.