1.2.1. Denial of Residency
Israel systematically utilizes residency revocation, as well as denial or hindrance of child
registration, family unification, or changes to residency as a strategy to silently transfer
Palestinians.69 Between 1967 and 1994, Israel revoked the residency of a quarter of a million
Palestinian residents of the oPt.70 More than 14,727 Palestinians have had their residency
status and right to live in East Jerusalem revoked since 1967, on the grounds that their status
has “expired of itself ”.71 Since the right to residency status is a condition for accessing a
multitude of other rights, many people who hold no status under Israeli law are not eligible
for health services, school enrollment, opening bank accounts, official employment, property
ownership, and obtaining a driving license or travel documents.
Of the 97 residency revocations of Palestinians in East Jerusalem from 2018 to 2021, 6 of
them were issued due to “breach of allegiance to the State of Israel”72 of the residents.73
When the dependent children of those parents who had their residency revoked is included,
the number of residency revocations in Jerusalem amounts to 86,000 as of 2015.74
1.2.2. Installment of a Permit Regime
Israel has installed a complex permit regime to control the Palestinian population and
incentivize, or incite, particular behavior. More than 101 different permits regulate and interfere
with virtually every aspect of Palestinian life.75 The permit regime controls Palestinian access
to land, natural resources, installation of infrastructures, travel, work, medical treatment,
agricultural and industrial development, and commercial enterprise. The Israeli permit regime
far exceeds a mere restriction on the freedom of movement and more consequentially results
in de-development of the Palestinian economic center as well as the complete denial of
adequate housing, healthcare, and livelihoods for many Palestinians.
69
BADIL, Forced Population Transfer: The Case of Palestine- Denial of Residency (BADIL 2014) <http://www.badil.org/
phocadownloadpap/Badil_docs/publications/wp15-introduction.pdf> accessed 3 October 2022.
70
HaMoked, ‘“Ceased Residency”: between 1967 and 1994 Israel revoked the residency of some quarter million
Palestinians from the West Bank and the Gaza strip’ (HaMoked, 12 June 2012) <https://hamoked.org/document.
php?dID=Updates1175> accessed 3 October 2022.
71
HaMoked, ‘Freedom of Information data: In 2021, Israel’s Ministry of Interior stripped 26 East Jerusalem Palestinians
of their permanent residency status as part of Israel’s “quiet deportation” policy; 15 of them women and one minor’
(HaMoked, 25 January 2022) <https://hamoked.org/document.php?dID=Updates2295> accessed 3 October 2022.
72
Entry into Israel Law (Amendment No. 30), 5778-2018 (Approved by the Knesset on the 7 March 2018). English
translation of the law by Al Haq available at: <https://www.alhaq.org/cached_uploads/download/alhaq_files/
images/thumbnails/images/stories/Images/1201.pdf>.
73
HaMoked, ‘East Jerusalem Residency Revocations due to “Breach of Allegiance”’ (HaMoked, 2022) <https://
hamoked.org.il/files/2022/1665641_eng.pdf> accessed 3 October 2022.
74
Mahdi Abdul Hadi, ‘Reviewing the Palestinian Political Scene 2015’ (The Palestinian Academic Society for the Study of
International Affairs (PASSIA), December 2015), 8 <http://passia.org/media/filer_public/be/1c/be1ca4de-9bd341ef-80ea-d549743ada57/passia_bulletin-en.pdf> accessed 3 October 2022.
75
BADIL, Forced Population Transfer: The Case of Palestine - Installment of a Permit Regime (BADIL 2015), <http://www.
badil.org/phocadownloadpap/badil-new/publications/research/working-papers/wp18-FPT-Israeli-permit-system.
pdf> accessed 3 October 2022.
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