The resulting population boom is often exploited by speculators and contractors selling houses, but without adequate infrastructure or building permit. These buildings risk being demolished in a later stage as the majority of Kufr Aqab inhabitants already received ‘stop working’ or demolition orders. Furthermore, since the Israeli authorities have deliberately left this building boom largely unregulated while denying the Palestinian authority to intervene, these areas are brought to the brink of a humanitarian catastrophe. In Kufr Aqab, for instance, high-rises, sometimes up to 14 stories are being built without proper supervision entail inherent engineering risks. Similar to residents of other areas excluded by the Annexation and Separation Wall, the inhabitants of Kufr Aqab only receive a bare minimum of means as the Jerusalem Municipality refuses to supply them with basic services, such as sanitation, welfare or emergency services and the maintenance of water and electricity infrastructures, claiming that it is ‘too dangerous and too difficult to cross the Wall’.149 Despite this lack of basic requirements, however, residents are obliged to pay equally high municipal taxes.150 The Annexation and Separation Wall serves the political objective of enforcing the so-called demographic balance. Whereas, currently, these periphery areas are theoretically included inside the municipal borders of Jerusalem, their future status remains unclear. Jerusalem Mayor Nir Barkat previously declared that Palestinians living outside of the Annexation and Separation Wall should be transferred to the West Bank Civil Administration (which is in fact the Israeli Military Administration in the 1967 occupied Palestinian Territory).151 Although this ending is only speculative, it is vital to stress the fact that thousands of individuals risk a de facto dispossession of their Jerusalem ID cards. Conclusion By means of laws, sometimes more than 5 decades old, Israel continues to legitimize its practices in (East-) Jerusalem. However, these laws are arbitrarily applied enforcing Israel’s discriminatory actions against Palestinians. Furthermore, many issues, such as massive home demolitions, the isolation of Palestinian villages for the sake of new highways, archeological excavations or the expulsion of Palestinians to periphery areas, directly demonstrate the intention to displace Palestinians out of Jerusalem Municipality’s borders. As 149 Alkhalili, Dajani, and Leo, “Shifting Realities: Dislocating Palestinian Jerusalemites from the Capital to the Edge,” 261. 150 ECCP, EU Obligations and Duty to End Israeli Policies of Forced Transfer, Colonialism and Apartheid in Occupied East Jerusalem, 24. 151 ECC Palestine, “Briefing Paper on East Jerusalem.” 46