***image4***Palestinian civil society organizations in Jerusalem have launched a campaign in defense of Palestinian residency rights in the city, aiming to end the Occupationâs revocation of residency rights of Jerusalemites.
With the occupation of Jerusalem in 1967, Israeli authorities have implemented policies to isolate the city from the rest of the West Bank, attempting to ensure a Jewish demographic majority in the city at a ratio of 70 percent Jewish to 30 percent Palestinian.
One of the methods used by the Israeli authorities to maintain Jewish demographic superiority is the denial of residency rights to Palestinian Jerusalemites. Through the manipulation of legal status, child registration, family reunification, and most recently the imposition of âcenter of lifeâ proof, Jerusalemites have been denied or stripped of their rights to live in the city. From 1967 â 2007, 8,558 Jerusalem identity cards were revoked, with an additional 4,500 revoked in 2008 alone. Some 10,000 Palestinian children are unregistered in Jerusalem, and since 2005 more than 120,000 requests for family reunification have gone unprocessed.
This policy effectively results in forced displacement, illegal under international law. As such, civil society organizations have demanded that affected Palestinians be compensated and their rights restored, those responsible legally punished, and that the international community applies boycotts and divests from Israel, similar to what was leveled against South Africa in the apartheid era.
The campaign is being run by Jerusalem Center for Social and Economic Rights, Jerusalem Center for Legal Aid and Human Rights, The Palestinian Network of Non-Governmental Organisations, The Coalition for Jerusalem, and Saint Yves Society. Check the campaignâs brochure or visit their Facebook page to learn more.