Despite Israel’s de-facto annexation of East Jerusalem, Palestinians who live there were not granted Israeli citizenship. Today, some 420,000 Palestinians in East Jerusalem have “permanent residency” ID cards. They also carry temporary Jordanian passports without a national identification number. This means that they are not full Jordanian citizens – they need a work permit to work in Jordan and do not have access to governmental services and benefits, such as reduced education fees.
Palestinian Jerusalemites are essentially stateless, stuck in legal limbo – they are not citizens of Israel, nor are they citizens of Jordan, or Palestine.
Israel treats Palestinians in East Jerusalem as foreign immigrants who live there as a favour by the state, and not by right, despite having been born there. They are required to fulfill a certain set of requirements to maintain their residency status and live in constant fear of having their residency revoked.While Palestinians live under apartheid-like conditions, Israelis enjoy a sense of normality, guaranteed for them by their state.
