HaMoked and Ma'an: The change announced by the Ministry of Interior, following a petition by the organizations, is insufficient. The intolerable overcrowding and inhuman conditions at the Population and Immigration Authority and the Employment Services building in East Jerusalem must be resolved immediately.

Press Release

HaMoked and Ma'an:

The change announced by the Ministry of Interior, following a petition by the organizations, is insufficient.

The intolerable overcrowding and inhuman conditions at the Population and Immigration Authority and the Employment Services building in East Jerusalem must be resolved immediately.

In a High Court of Justice hearing on March 15, 2018, regarding a petition submitted by HaMoked and Ma'an, the judges strongly criticized the difficult conditions and long queues in the joint building of the Population and Immigration Authority of the Interior Ministry and the Employment Services in East Jerusalem. The judges pushed the state to find "creative solutions" for the problem within three months.

Palestinian residents of East Jerusalem are only able to receive services in the East Jerusalem Bureau in Wadi Joz, while all other Israeli residents and citizens have access to any bureau in the country. Adv. Abir Joubran-Dakwar, who represented the petitioners, demanded that, in light of the fact that there seem to be no solutions on the horizon, all Population Authority bureaus in the country open their doors to East Jerusalem residents for the issuance of ID cards and travel documents – thus providing, at the very least, a partial immediate solution.

Following numerous appeals by HaMoked and Ma'an, and an additional petition by Adv. Yehoshua Shoffman and the Association for Civil Rights in Israel, the Population Authority announced on May 13, 2018 that residents of East Jerusalem "who wish to renew a biometric travel document, will be able to do so at any bureau in the country, upon presentation of a valid ID card and a previous travel document, issued in the past seven years." Such access is permitted until the end of 2018.

This is an extremely partial solution. The majority of vital services will not be provided at other bureaus – not even a first travel document.

HaMoked and Ma'an will continue their legal battle in an effort to resolve the intolerable overcrowding and inhuman conditions for East Jerusalem Palestinians trying to access vital government services.

Read the press release in Arabic