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. |