Israeli law defines the Palestinian inhabitants of occupied East Jerusalem as “permanent residents of Israel” and not as citizens. Their right to travel and stay abroad without losing their resident status in the city is limited by Regulation 11 of the Law of Entry to Israel (1952) which states that, “if a permanent resident lives outside of Israel for more than seven years, becomes a permanent resident of another country, or applies for citizenship in another country,” s/he is liable to lose his/her status as resident of Israel. Between 1967 and 1994, the Interior Ministry thus canceled the residency rights of thousands of Jerusalemites who had been abroad for more than seven years consecutively. Regulation 11 was, however, interpreted as not applying to persons who lawfully renewed their exit permits every three years (even if they remained abroad for more than seven years) and to Jerusalemites living in the West Bank outside the city boundaries.  

However, in 1994, the Interior Ministry began to interpret the law in a new way. In 1988 Supreme Court ruled - in the  case of Mubarak Awad, a Jerusalemite living in the United States, who had petitioned against the cancellation of his resident status in the city - that permanent residents must show that their “center of life” is in Jerusalem to retain residency rights. Thus the Interior Ministry added a new condition for Palestinians to retain their residency rights: no longer was it sufficient to fulfill the requirements of Regulation 11 - it was now also necessary to document that one’s “center of life” was in Jerusalem (through employment and rent contracts, school registration, utility bills, etc.) As a result of this new policy, all Palestinian Jerusalemites working and studying abroad have become liable to lose their right to live in the city, even if they visit regularly and even if they renew their exit permits in time. Also Jerusalemites who are married and living outside the city in the West Bank or Gaza Strip run an increasing risk of losing their Jerusalem resident status, since they too are unable to document “center of life” in Jerusalem. This policy change occurred without prior public announcement. Moreover, ID cards are confiscated from their holders without offering them a chance to submit objections. [For additional background on ID card confiscations from Palestinian Jerusalemites see ARTICLE 74/12 (April 1995), 13 (June 1995, 14 (December 1995), 15 (April 1996); “The Trap Is Closing On Palestinian Jerusalemites”, Memorandum 1/96, Alternative Information Center, February 1996.]  

Past and intensive efforts by the local human rights organizations to publicize the new Israeli policy of ID card confiscations have failed to mobilize the progressive Israeli public and politicians. The Palestinian Authority - first unaware of the problem, then better informed (largely because of the efforts of the local human rights community) - explained that its hands were tied in regards to Jerusalem issues and the international sponsors of the peace process have done nothing to stop the ongoing decimation of the number of Palestinian residents in East Jerusalem by the Israeli Ministry of Interior. For the record’s sake, we wish to emphasize that this gross violation of basic human rights is by no means the invention of the new Likud government. Several interior ministers of the “peace-seeking” Israeli Labor-Meretz government, specifically Ministers Ari’eh Der’i (Shas), David Liba’i (Labor) and Haim Ramon (Meretz) have supported of tolerated it. Yet it is certainly true that the recent appointment of Eli Suissa (Shas) as Interior Minister makes the future look dark indeed [see Portrait below].  
In the meantime, Israeli interior ministry clerks continue unhampered to take away the ID cards of unsuspecting Jerusalemites who come for seemingly standard requests. The number of ID card confiscations has been growing steadily and will reach a new peak now, during the summer visit season, when thousands of Palestinian Jerusalemites return home from work and study abroad.