White House Worried About Plan To Strip East Jerusalem Palestinians of Residency

Image by Getty Images

By JTA October 27, 2015

The Obama administration voiced concern about news that the Israeli government might revoke residency of Palestinians living in east Jerusalem

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu at a meeting Monday reportedly raised the possibility of pursuing such a move in response to the recent wave of violence that has rocked Jerusalem and the West Bank. Obama administration spokesman Josh Earnest responded the same day, the Times of Israel reported, saying the administration is reiterating calls on both Palestinians and Israelis to avoid “provocative actions and rhetoric.”

The move could affect the up to 80,000 Palestinians who live in parts of eastern Jerusalem that are on the non-Israeli side of the security barrier that Israel erected during the second intifada.

In 1967, Israel granted eastern Jerusalem Palestinians permanent residency status — a blue ID card giving them access to social benefits and health care, but they do not have Israeli citizenship.

A message from our Publisher & CEO Rachel Fishman Feddersen

I hope you appreciated this article. Before you go, I’d like to ask you to please support the Forward’s award-winning, nonprofit journalism during this critical time.

The coming year promises to be filled with more complex and historic developments. We are entering an era where independent, fact-based Jewish journalism will be more important than ever. We need to be ready for whatever 2025 will bring, and with your help, we can be.

We’ve set a goal to raise $260,000 by December 31. That’s an ambitious goal, but one that will give us the resources we need to invest in the high quality news, opinion, analysis and cultural coverage that isn’t available anywhere else.

If you feel inspired to make an impact, now is the time to give something back. Join us as a member at your most generous level.

— Rachel Fishman Feddersen, Publisher and CEO