In June 1994, the Ministry informed that from now on, female Palestinian residents of Jerusalem are eligible to apply for family reunification for their non-resident husbands. Their applications will be handled according to the same procedures as those submitted by male Jerusalemites. If the wife can prove actual residence in the city, and there are no “security charges” against her husband, she will be granted family reunification. 
While on the one hand, this new policy is a positive step, it also represents a further step towards the separation of Jerusalem from the surrounding West Bank: human rights organizations will have to develop new strategies in order to prevent tens of thousands of Palestinian Jerusalemites who reside outside the city boundaries (and therefore cannot document residence in Jerusalem) from being deprived of their right to live united with their families in Jerusalem in the future.