The above practices constitute a stark violation of basic human rights. Article 7 of the Convention on the Rights of the Child grants every child the right to be registered at birth by the State within which jurisdiction the child is born. This means that states must make birth registration accessible and available to all children. However, the state of Israel makes a clear distinction between a newborn of Israeli citizens, who immediately receives an identification number at the hospital, and a Palestinian newborn of permanent residents, who face obstacles to register their child, leaving them in a vulnerable situation. This effectively deprives large numbers of Palestinian children of the right to live permanently in the place where they were born, or where their parent is a legal resident. Interview with Yara, Ramallah100 I was born in 1996 in Ramallah. My father is a Palestinian resident of Beit Hanina, a village near Jerusalem. He holds a Jerusalem ID, while my mother is from Ramallah, and hence holds a West Bank ID. Unlike my two brothers, who were born in Jerusalem, I was born in Ramallah, and I was not automatically registered against my father’s ID. It took two years of legal battle to insure that Israel would grant me a Jerusalem identification number and register me against my Father’s ID. My mother decided to deliver me in the hospital of Ramallah, due to the bad experience she had had in the Israeli hospital when she gave birth to my older brother. They treated her badly, and did not even speak English to her. In addition to that, since 1994, Israel introduced new control policies such as checkpoints and entry permits to limit the movement of Palestinians, and because she carries the West Bank ID she would have had to apply for a permit to be able to deliver in Jerusalem, which was not easily obtained. Withdrawal of ID In 2010, we decided to go on a family trip to Jordan. My father went to the Israeli Ministry of Interior in Jerusalem to obtain the exit permit for him and me and my siblings. He was surprised to discover that my ID number was withdrawn. The ministry employee claimed that there were some unclear issues on my file and ID number. At that moment I lost my identification and proof of identity. My parents decided to appoint a lawyer to solve the problem but we still do not know the reason for the withdrawal. We went into the process of family unification but so far without success. For the past three years our lawyer was unable to solve our problem. Nothing changed, we are still waiting. Impact on daily life When I think about my future I feel bad because I hope to study journalism or political science but I know I cannot. I am unable to take the final high school exams because in order to do so I would need to present my ID card. Because I do not have any identification documents I cannot get my high school diploma, or move on to higher education. Also, because I do not have an ID card I cannot travel abroad. In the past few years my classmates and church group went to ten different trips abroad, but I could not participate in any of them. I still hope that one day I will receive my ID card because otherwise I will be imprisoned forever in my small hometown here in the West Bank. 100 Yara ’Assaf (17), Ramallah, interview by BADIL, October 2013. 42