Occupied
Jerusalem - According to international law, "East Jerusalem" is defined as occupied territory, and all measures and practices undertaken by the Israeli occupation in these territories must be subject to international law, and international humanitarian law relating to the treatment of the occupied people.
But after occupying the east of the city on June 5, 1967 (it occupied its west in the Nakba of 1948), the Israeli government issued a military order imposing its law on the lands belonging to the occupation municipality in East Jerusalem.
Since then, Israel has made many changes in the city with the aim of minimizing the Palestinian presence there, in return for maintaining a Jewish majority.
Among its transgressions: changing the legal status of Palestinians and defining them as residents, not citizens, and accordingly every Jerusalemite holds 3 different official documents.
Many who live outside the Holy City are ignorant of the reasons why Jerusalemites carry documents of different contents, and why one of them is used during their travel outside Palestine by land, while another document is shown when they travel by air.
Jerusalemites gather in Sheikh Jarrah neighborhood and raise the Palestinian flag (Al-Jazeera)
What documents does al-Maqdisi carry in Palestine?
Temporary Jordanian passport:
The city’s residents held Jordanian citizenship during Jordan’s rule of Jerusalem, and enjoyed all the rights of Jordanian citizens before the Israeli occupation of the rest of the city in 1967.
In 1988, the late King Hussein bin Talal of Jordan decided to disengage from the West Bank, and at that time his kingdom relinquished its sovereignty over East Jerusalem and the West Bank, and as a result, Jordanian nationalities were withdrawn from most of the Jerusalemites, and they now hold a temporary Jordanian passport and a green card through which they pass through the crossing. Dignity between Palestine and Jordan.
Jerusalemites have been called, according to the director of the Community Action Center of Al-Quds University, Munir Nusseibeh, "stateless", since 1988.
Countries treat their temporary passport differently, while some allow them to enter their territory without a visit visa, such as Turkey, other countries do not recognize this passport at all, such as Switzerland and Denmark.
Jerusalemites are obliged to obtain a visa through the Israeli travel document called "Lasebase" to reach this country.
Jerusalem crowds in the courtyards of Al-Aqsa Mosque (communication sites)
The Israeli blue card:
As soon as the eastern part of the city was occupied, Israel expanded the borders of the Jordanian "Jerusalem Municipality", which had an area of 6 square kilometers, and included villages from the West Bank under the umbrella of the "Jerusalem Municipality", which now includes 70 square kilometers, and applied Israeli law to the residents, And decided to release the status of "resident in the State of Israel" on them.
According to Nusseibeh, this measure was one of the first Israeli violations of international law, as the occupying country treated the original citizens as foreign immigrants to it.
The residents were considered Jordanians residing in the Land of Israel, so the authorities gave them Israeli IDs identifying them as residents rather than citizens.
Everyone who holds this card pays all kinds of taxes, and is allowed to be a member of the Israeli National Insurance Institute, which includes social security and health insurance. ".
The big problem is that the right to residency for everyone who holds this card is fragile, and it is possible for Israel to cancel the residency of any Jerusalemite with ease, and since 1967 until this day the occupation has canceled the residency of more than 14,500 Jerusalemites.
Israel has developed many criteria to revoke the right of residency for Jerusalemites. According to Nusseibeh, the blue card (the Israeli identity card) was withdrawn from Jerusalemites who travel and reside for 7 years outside the country.
Since 1994, the occupation has introduced the “center of life” standard, according to which all Jerusalemites who live outside the city of Jerusalem “do not deserve to enjoy the status of resident.”
As for the most dangerous criterion, it came in 2006, and the right of residency in Jerusalem has been rescinded under the pretext of "violating allegiance" to Israel.
The three documents that all sanctuaries carry (Al-Jazeera)
Israeli Travel Document (Lasebase):
This document is related to the status of residency, and with it Israel gave the "residents" the opportunity to obtain a travel document, in order to be able to pass through Lod Airport (Ben Gurion) abroad.
While Jerusalemites show this document when they travel by air outside the country, they do not carry it if they decide to travel to Jordan by land, because they will then need the blue card, the Jordanian passport, and the Jordanian green bridges card.
How does the Israeli blue card of Jerusalemites differ from that carried by the residents of the Palestinian interior?
The blue card identifies Jerusalemites as residents, while the Palestinian residents are considered citizens of Israeli citizenship, which gives them facilities in registering children, and according to which they have the right to vote in Israeli elections.
Why do Jerusalemites pile up identification papers and not waste a clip?
Munir Nusseibeh says that all Jerusalemites repeatedly and continuously need to prove that they actually live in Jerusalem, and that the city is their permanent "center of their lives".
The Community Action Center defends the legal status of many Palestinians who have lost their right to residency in Jerusalem for various reasons.
If one of them travels abroad for the purpose of studying, he is forced every time he returns to go to the office of the Israeli Ministry of the Interior, and present many proofs to confirm that he did not obtain residency outside the country, and that the center of his life is still in Jerusalem.
Nusseibeh asserts that every transaction that al-Maqdisi addresses to the various Israeli government departments and institutions, automatically puts him in doubt, and he is asked to show identification papers, and in many cases families are asked about cases and files related to their relatives.
Thus, Al-Maqdisi does not waste electricity and water bills, and the arrival of various taxes, especially the property tax (arnona), and he cannot neglect school and university certificates, and health and national insurance papers, because all of these are required retroactively when applying for any transaction.
In cooperation between the Israeli Ministry of Interior and the National Insurance Institute, Jerusalemites who have pending files in them are subjected to sudden visits from its employees, to ensure that the family lives in their home inside Jerusalem and not outside it.
They open refrigerators, inspect waste baskets, enter rooms, and check water and electricity meters, in flagrant violation of the privacy of families who submit to all these procedures, perhaps succeeding in registering their children and establishing their residency in Jerusalem, or obtaining a family unification treatment for the Palestinian husband or wife who does not bear children. its documents.