العربية
HE
العربية
HE
In 2026, as in every year, HaMoked: Center for the Defence of the Individual submitted a Freedom of Information request to the Ministry of Interior for data on the revocation of permanent residency status of East Jerusalem residents in 2025. The request was submitted as part of HaMoked’s longstanding struggle against the “quiet deportation” policy targeting Palestinian residents of East Jerusalem, which began in late 1995.
According to Ministry of Interior data received on April 15, 2026, in 2025 Israel revoked the status of 84 Palestinians from East Jerusalem, including 50 women and six minors. Sixty of those whose status was revoked were outside Israel at the time. The number of revocations was higher than in the previous year, when 60 people had their permanent residency status revoked.
Data provided by the Ministry of Interior over the years show that between 1967 and 2025, Israel revoked the status of 15,013 Palestinians from East Jerusalem on the grounds that their status had “expired of itself.”
The Ministry of Interior also stated that there had been no change to its policy in recent years, whereby permanent residents living in Jerusalem neighborhoods located beyond the Separation Barrier, or those who have moved elsewhere in the West Bank, will not have their status revoked. The same applies to permanent residents living abroad who make periodic visits to Israel.
According to the Ministry’s data, in 2025, as of February 28, 2026, 25 applications for reinstatement of status were submitted to the East Jerusalem Ministry of Interior bureau. Thirteen reinstatement applications submitted in various years were approved, compared to eight in the previous year. Two applications submitted in 2025 were denied for failure to prove a “center of life,” and one was denied under the temporary order (the Citizenship and Entry into Israel Law). Another application was deferred until completion of the two years during which the Ministry examines such applications under its procedure.
The Ministry further reported that between January and October 2025, 28 family unification applications concerning children were submitted; five were approved and five were denied.
The Ministry also reported that one person’s permanent residency was revoked on grounds of “breach of allegiance.”
HaMoked reiterates that the status of East Jerusalem residents is fundamentally different from that of other permanent residents. East Jerusalem was annexed to Israel, and Israeli permanent residency was imposed on its Palestinian population. They are the indigenous inhabitants of the area, and their status must not be subject to expiration or revocation. Expelling them from their homeland as a result of this imposed status is wholly unacceptable. HaMoked maintains that the residency status of East Jerusalem Palestinians, for whom this land is their home, must not expire due to prolonged residence abroad or the acquisition of status in another country, nor should it be revoked on any other grounds.
