Quick Facts

May 14, 1948

Jerusalem was in Palestine, which was part of the Ottoman Empire from 1517 to 1917. The British occupied Jerusalem in  December 1917 and the country was under British military occupation (Occupied  Enemy Territories Administration, or OETA), from that point until July 1, 1920, when a civil administration was established. Britain was granted a Mandate for Palestine on April 25, 1920 at the San Remo Conference, and, on July 24, 1922, this Mandate was approved by the League of Nations. The British remained in Palestine for 30 years. After the UN General Assembly adopted the resolution to partition Palestine on November 29, 1947, including its plan to designate Jerusalem as an international corpus separatum, Britain announced the termination of its Mandate for Palestine, which became effective on May 15, 1948.

They were nationals and citizens of the independent nation of Palestine, as determined by both international and British Mandate law.

Neither. According to the UN partition plan for Palestine, announced November 29, 1947, within United Nations Resolution 181(II), Jerusalem was to be internationalized into a zone called a corpus separatum, Latin for “body, separated.” The term is a legal term for an area that has a special legal and political status different from that of its environment, and less than sovereignty or independence. This status was recommended due to the unique importance of the city to the three monotheistic religions and its historic importance. The area envisioned for this corpus separatum was quite a bit larger than the boundaries of the city at that time and even included areas of Bethlehem to the south as well as various outlying Palestinian villages to the west, north, and east. The plan specified that the “maximum local autonomy” should be granted to all “distinctive groups” living in this special zone. 

Despite the international plan for a corpus separatum for Jerusalem, during the war of 1948, after months of intensive fighting, Israel militarily seized much of the western side of the city and all its surrounding Palestinian villages in the western corridor leading to the city from the coastal plain. Having occupied the area, on August 2, 1948, Israel then unilaterally declared West Jerusalem to be Israeli-occupied territory. At the end of the war, a temporary Armistice Demarcation Line was drawn, with West Jerusalem occupied by Israel and East Jerusalem occupied by Jordan. On December 5, 1949, Israeli Prime Minister David Ben-Gurion declared that “Jewish Jerusalem” was an organic, inseparable part of the State of Israel. He also declared the corpus separatum null and void. The UN, however, did not accede in such declaration. 

84.12 percent, or 16,221 dunums

11.48 percent, or 2,220 dunums

Virtually none. Everything had to be rebuilt from scratch.

40

From the city, the estimated number is 45,000 through the end of the war; from the 40 nearby villages, the estimated number is 28,256 for a total of 73,256 (or nearly 75,000) people. 

No. Israel moved swiftly even while the war was still raging to settle Jews in their place and pass laws to ban their return. Many of these Palestinians from the western side of the city remain in the Eastern side today but cannot reclaim any of their land or property. 

All except around 200 Palestinian Jerusalemites were expelled or fled and were banned from returning. Israel passed laws abrogating their citizenship, and those without status elsewhere became stateless refugees. The 200 who remained in West Jerusalem were forcibly confined in a prison zone called Area A for two and a half years. When they were finally released, they found their homes had been seized and given to Jews. These few people were eventually issued Israeli IDs, granting them legal status. 

For 19 years, from 1948 to June 1967

June 5, 1967

Despite Israel’s efforts to reinvent Jerusalem as an entity that is severed from the West Bank, under international law, East Jerusalem is part of the West Bank and was historically its heart.

No, Israel unilaterally expanded the borders on June 27, 1967, and added about 70 sq km to the area of the city on its eastern side.

More than three times

On December 13, 1980, when the Israeli Knesset passed Basic Law: Jerusalem the Capital of Israel.

Zero. Although the municipal boundaries have changed 10 times since 1917, these decisions have all been unilaterally imposed by either the British or Israel without any input from Palestinians.

Israel unilaterally applied its law and jurisdiction to the eastern side of the city within its newly expanded borders on June 28, 1967. While Israel considers this to be legal, international law does not and still considers East Jerusalem to be occupied territory.

No. The unilateral imposition of Israeli law on East Jerusalem in 1967 is invalid and illegal under international law. This has been affirmed in numerous UN resolutions.

The “demographic balance” means preserving the demographic superiority of Jews in Jerusalem.

26.5 percent. This goal, set in 1973, proved impossible to achieve. Today, the percentage is officially reported as around 40 percent but likely closer to 50 percent. 

The most recent official Israeli data are for 2020: 951,100.

In 2020, 570,100, or 59.9 percent of the city’s population. Israeli data statisticians also inflate this number by combining it with the number of “non-Arab Christians” (3,400) and “persons not identified by religion” (10,800), thus referring to a Jewish population of 61.4. See Omer Yaniv, Netta Haddad, and Yair Assaf-Shapira, Jerusalem Facts and Trends 2022 (Jerusalem: Jerusalem Institute for Policy Research, 2022), footnote 2, 20.

In 2020, 366,800, or 36.56 percent of the city’s total population (951,100). This figure does not distinguish between citizens and permanent residents, or between citizens who were born in 1948 Israel and those who were born residents in East Jerusalem and applied for citizenship by naturalization. In addition, there are 3,400 “non-Arab Christians” and 10,800 “persons not identified by religion.” If these numbers are combined with the number of Arabs, the percentage of “non-Jews” in the city rises to 40.06. Note, however, that these data only include persons in the Israeli Population Registry; thousands more Palestinians are either unregistered or living with Palestinian Authority IDs in the city and therefore not tabulated. See Omer Yaniv, Netta Haddad, and Yair Assaf-Shapira, Jerusalem Facts and Trends 2022 (Jerusalem: Jerusalem Institute for Policy Research, 2022), 20.

No, because it only includes people who are registered in the Israeli Population Registry (i.e., those who have legal status). It does not include unregistered persons or persons holding Palestinian Authority IDs who live within the city limits for various reasons. This number is believed to approach the tens of thousands, meaning that the actual percentage of Palestinians and other non-Jews in the city is likely closer to 50 percent.

Jews in Jerusalem, as in the rest of Israel, are either citizens, immigrants on a fast path to becoming citizens (within 30 days) by making aliya, or tourists. Jews receive citizenship by birthright. 

Although this community is indigenous, Israel conferred upon it the status of permanent resident, a status usually granted to foreigners arriving from outside the country, in June 1967. At that time, Israel conducted a census and anyone who was enumerated in the census was entitled to apply for the status of permanent resident.

The status of permanent resident is conferred only conditionally, which means that it is granted at the whim of the authorities, conditional upon whatever types of criteria the authorities choose to set. Commonly the criteria change without any warning or notice to residents and even apply retroactively to past actions and circumstances.

Yes—one, Shu‘fat refugee camp, established by UNRWA in 1966

No. In order for a child to even apply for legal status, at least one parent must have active permanent-resident status.

No. If the parents fail to obtain status for their minor child before his or her 18th birthday, the child can never again apply for it; the chance is lost forever.

No. They are not citizens and therefore they are not entitled to Israeli passports.

No. Permanent residents who wish to go abroad must apply for a special travel document called a laissez-passer.

They are stateless, unless they hold a foreign passport from another country.

No. Palestinian permanent residents have no such right. They must have a valid reentry permit in their travel document in order to reenter the country.

No. Permanent-resident status is non-transferable. The spouse with status must apply for it on behalf of the spouse without status through a lengthy and stringent process called family unification. However, under Israeli law, all family unification applications for Palestinian spouses have been frozen since 2003.

No. Under Israeli law, all newborn children must be listed on a parent’s ID within 30 days. Only upon turning 16 is a child allowed to apply for his own individual legal status and ID, and there is no guaranteed outcome. Stringent requirements must be met. 

Yes. Permanent-resident status can be revoked for several reasons, including failure to prove that one’s “center of life” is within the municipal boundaries of Jerusalem, alleged “disloyalty” to the state, and if a family member commits a security offense.

A: The “center of life” policy, which emerged from the Supreme Court ruling in the 1988 Mubarak Awad case, is a judicially created doctrine subject to the discretion of the minister of interior. According to this policy, in order to maintain their residency, Palestinian Jerusalemites must consistently prove to the Ministry of Interior that their “center of life” is in Israel. Practically speaking, since Palestinian Jerusalemites rarely live outside the city, this means proving that their “center of life” lies in Jerusalem (i.e., within the Israeli-declared municipal boundaries). Those who cannot prove so are at risk of having their status revoked or their residency not renewed upon expiration.

Yes. It has revoked the status of nearly 15,000 residents since 1967 and it continues to do so to this day. 

If the individual has children registered on his or her ID, they all lose their status as well, and with it, their health and national insurance benefits and access to their education, among other things.

While exact numbers are unknown, estimates put this at nearly 77,000 to 90,000.

• The individual can no longer live in or enter the city without a permit. 
• The individual is given a short period of time (15 to 30 days) to leave the city or face arrest. 
• The individual may lose access to family (if they have permanent-resident status) and lose access to basic benefits such as health insurance and education. 
• Individuals who have no other passport become stateless. 
• They cannot leave the country, have health insurance, pass through checkpoints (even internal ones in the West Bank), get a driver’s license, open a bank account, or register for educational programs, among other things.

No.

No. Palestinian residents do not enjoy any of these basic rights: Preservation of life, body, and dignity; Protection of property; Protection of life, body, and dignity, Personal liberty, Leaving and entering Israel; Privacy.

20,000—about 6 to 7 percent. But there are no precise data on how many of these are born citizens of Israel and how many are permanent residents of Jerusalem who applied for and received naturalized citizenship. 

Under the Oslo Accords of 1993 and 1995, the Palestinian Authority (PA) is banned from operating anywhere within the Israeli-declared municipal boundaries of Jerusalem. Israel takes this ban extremely seriously and considers it a criminal offense if the PA sponsors any type of activity in the city, even a coronavirus clinic or a soccer game. This is in accordance with the Law Implementing Agreement on Gaza and Jericho Areas (1994), which took effect on January 1, 1995 and states explicitly:

Restriction on the Palestinian Authority

1. The Palestinian Authority shall not open or operate a representative mission, and shall not hold a meeting, in the area of the State of Israel unless written permission for this has been given by the State of Israel or by someone authorized by it to do so;
2. The Minister of Police may, by means of an order, prohibit the opening or operation of a representative mission of the Palestinian Authority, order its closure, or prevent the holding of a meeting, if permission has not been obtained in accordance with sub-paragraph (A).
3. Orders referred to in sub-paragraph (B) shall be served, insofar as possible, on the owner of the premises, or the occupier, or the organizers, or whoever it seems to the Minister of Police is responsible for the activity which is the subject of the order; where it is not possible to serve the order as aforesaid, the Minister of Police shall give instructions for its publication in a manner which he shall establish; a notice concerning the giving of the order shall be published in the official gazette.

The likewise bans the Palestine Liberation Organization from operating within the Israeli municipal boundaries of Jerusalem and authorizes the Minister of Policy to take similar measures to prevent any such activity as those for the PA. 

No. Palestinians holding PA ID cards (males aged under 55, females aged under 50) cannot enter Jerusalem without an Israeli-approved entry permit. 
Any Palestinian who has been blacklisted by Israel for any reason cannot obtain such a permit and therefore cannot enter Jerusalem.

Yes. In fact 97 percent of the route of the wall in the Jerusalem area and its close environs breaches the Green Line. In some places the wall moves inside of the municipal boundary; in other places it extends beyond (outside) it.

No. The Separation Wall is more than twice as long as the Green Line, and 85 percent of it crosses into the occupied West Bank, thereby appropriating 9.4 percent of Palestinian lands there.

0; the Separation Wall runs wholly apart from the Israeli municipal boundary for the most part. In some very small portions in Abu Dis, it runs close to the boundary for about 1.5 km, but otherwise there is no overlap. This reflects the reality that the Separation Wall established a wholly new definition of the city from that which previously had been unilaterally imposed by Israel in 1967, when it occupied East Jerusalem and expanded the boundaries.

No, this is incorrect for several reasons. First, East Jerusalem is historically part of the occupied West Bank, so it cannot really be separated from it. Second, the route of the Separation Wall does not run cleanly along the Israeli municipal boundaries or any official boundaries. Third, the Separation Wall excises whole large Palestinian neighborhoods from the city, although they fall inside of the municipal boundaries. Additionally, the Separation Wall removes at least 150,000 Palestinian Jerusalemites from the city, because they live on the “other” side of the wall. 

Yes, and in more than one way. Some Palestinian communities have been left outside the wall; their only way to access the city is through a single checkpoint. Some have been entirely engulfed by the wall, surrounded on all sides, or by the wall and then mountainous terrain (effectively engulfed). Some Palestinian communities that were historically part of the city and its environs have been left outside of both the municipal boundaries and the wall. In general, the wall winds within and without the jurisdiction of the Jerusalem municipality, slicing through Palestinian communities and separating them. In its wake, it creates multiple types of entrapped zones where Palestinians reside.

It was spuriously dismissed and dissolved, and all branches of the municipality were absorbed into Israel’s West Jerusalem municipality with Israeli Jews appointed to run them.

Around 150,000, although no reliable data exist

Yes, Palestinian permanent residents can vote for the local municipal council. However, they cannot run for mayor and they cannot vote in national elections. 

About 1 percent

0; 0

By law, no. They can only vote for the municipal council. They also cannot vote in national elections. 

None. Israel expelled all Palestinians from West Jerusalem in 1948 and did not allow them to return. For those in East Jerusalem, Israel granted them permanent-resident status, not citizenship. Under Israeli law, permanent residents are not allowed to hold the office of mayor. Therefore, in West Jerusalem since 1948 (when it was incorporated into the State of Israel) and in East Jerusalem since 1967 (when Israel occupied the eastern half of the city), there has never been a single Palestinian mayor. 

No. Only Israeli citizens have this right.

No; as permanent residents, they are not allowed to do so.

2006

In theory, yes, but in reality the state interferes with these elections to such an extent that it suppresses the vote.

As of the last election (2006), the number was six. In the previous election for the PLC, the number was seven.

In theory and according to law, yes, but in reality, Israel interferes with these elections to such an extent that it suppresses the vote.

No. It is almost impossible for Palestinians to get a building permit from the city, for many reasons. But the main reason is that the city does not finalize or approve any plans for Palestinian neighborhoods and it denies about 93 percent of the building permit applications from Palestinians.

That depends on their Israeli-issued ID. Under the mobility regime imposed by Israel, only Palestinians with Israeli citizenship and those with blue permanent-resident IDs can freely enter Jerusalem. Palestinians holding Palestinian Authority (PA) IDs must apply to the unit for Coordination of Government Activities in the Territories (COGAT) for a military entry permit. Entry permits are typically very restricted and specific in their duration and location. On certain days (including Jewish holidays), Israel imposes a total closure on the city which results in the cancellation of any entry permits already granted for that period. Palestinians living in Gaza are almost never granted these permits and even on the rare occasions that they are, they can be cancelled by Israel at the last minute for any reason. For Palestinians with foreign passports wishing to visit Palestinians in the West Bank, a whole new set of entry regulations was imposed in October 2022 that might even prevent them from entering altogether if they are from one of six “banned” countries (Jordan, Egypt, Bahrain, Morocco, and South Sudan). Even Palestinians with citizenship in countries allied with Israel such as the US can be harassed at the airport and deported in some cases, meaning they cannot access Jerusalem either. Palestinian refugees living outside the country without foreign passports cannot dream of entering Jerusalem.

Closure is an Israeli system that applies to a specific group of persons, not to any territory. The West Bank is a permanently “closed” military zone only for Palestinians who hold Palestinian Authority (PA) ID cards, meaning that they need permits to leave it and enter adjacent Jerusalem. Therefore, this population is under “closure.” Jews and Israeli citizens and residents, by contrast, have full freedom of movement, even those who live in the West Bank.

According to Israeli sociologist and human rights lawyer Yael Berda, an expert on the bureaucracy of the occupation, “Closure is a legal apparatus that is in effect only on the subjects of the military commander . . . it’s called the “enclaves law”; it doesn't exist in any other [country]. It’s a legal construction that is Israeli-made. It’s an exception to international law.”

Closure was imposed in 1991 and has been in effect continuously ever since.

“Total closure days” are days on which Palestinians with Palestinian Authority (PA) ID cards are not allowed to enter Israel or East Jerusalem at all, even if they have valid Israeli entry permits. With the establishment of a detailed permit regime, especially after the Second Intifada, total closure days became more common.

The Israeli army typically announces the total closure of the West Bank and Gaza on major Jewish holidays like Passover (which usually occurs in spring) and Yom Kippur (which usually occurs in fall) or on the occasion of an Israeli national event such as Election Day or Independence Day. As well, the army might declare a total closure on the West Bank when there are high alerts of possible “attacks” (i.e., by Palestinians targeting Jews).

Total closure can last from several hours to several days.

13

No. Under Israeli military rule, the checkpoints Palestinians are allowed to use are determined by their ID.

Only three: One in the north (Qalandiya); one in the east (the al-Zaytun/Ras Abu Sbitan checkpoint); and one in the south (Checkpoint 300 from Bethlehem). This includes any and all workers coming in to their daily jobs. Narrowing the options to just three checkpoints creates massive delays and inconvenience for Palestinians holding PA ID cards entering Israel, particularly in the north and south. For example, Qalandiya checkpoint handles about a third of daily Palestinian movements in and out of the West Bank.

More than 25,000; in fact, Qalandiya checkpoint alone handles about a third of daily Palestinian movements in and out of the occupied West Bank.

No. They must cross the checkpoints by foot and continue in some other form of transport thereafter. Only a few exceptional cases such as VIPs or medical professionals would be allowed to pass through a checkpoint in a vehicle.

Zero. Even when Palestinians organized for 15 years to build their own neighborhood on their own land, Mayor Moshe Lion vetoed the project in 2023, ostensibly for political reasons given that municipal elections were due in October of that same year.

Yes, according to Israel’s Compulsory Education Law (1949, with amendments), every child (whether citizen or resident) must be educated from age 3 to 15 (through grade 10), or until the completion of 10 years of schooling beginning at the latest at age 5.

There is no such central authority tasked with implementing public education policy and responsible for outcomes. In fact, the supervision over education is fragmented and dysfunctional due to long-running conflicts over control of education in the city. In fact, there are four different supervising bodies, each controlling different types of schools (Israeli municipal public schools, awqaf [Islamic] schools, UNRWA schools, and private schools, including local charities). The first three types provide free education but they are differently funded and managed.

No. Only the Israeli-run municipal public schools are recognized as official.

No. Palestinian residents must continually prove to the Ministry of the Interior that their “center of life” lies within the city, including their children’s education. Should they register their child at a school outside those boundaries, even by a few feet, the child’s residency, legal status, and national health insurance would be revoked. Schools in West Jerusalem are also off limits since they are for Jews only.

No. Schools in West Jerusalem are for Jews only.

Yes

Under Israeli law, displaying the Palestinian flag is perfectly legal. However, recently, the government and the city have stepped up a campaign of searching children’s backpacks and seizing any materials, including assigned and required textbooks, that display the Palestinian flag, traumatizing children.

About one-third as of 2022

The dropout rate is very high. In 2021–22, it was 4 percent of boys and 3 percent of girls. 

A child applying for an ID at age 16 is required to submit the previous two years of school records to prove that his or her “center of life” is in Jerusalem. If he or she cannot produce these records, the right to residency will be revoked.

Zero

In Israeli discourse, this term refers to the 202 km segment of the Separation Wall, built variously as concrete wall and chain-link fence, that envelops Jerusalem, encapsulating the whole Israeli-envisioned “Greater Jerusalem” region from the south of Ramallah to the west of Jericho and down southwards into Bethlehem, embracing all of the major settlement blocs in the Jerusalem region and linking them to the city of Jerusalem, while dissecting Palestinian spaces and fragmenting and entrapping Jerusalemite communities within different enclaves.

10

10 out of 10

0 out of 10

0 out of 10

Approximately one-third

No. Over a decade ago, the municipality subcontracted this out to private contractors, who collect garbage sporadically at far longer intervals than the city does for the neighborhoods inside the wall.

No, especially in the most densely populated neighborhoods of Kufr ‘Aqab and Shu‘fat refugee camp. Residents of Kufr ‘Aqab must contend with chronic water shortages, sometimes receiving as little as 2 to 23 hours of water a week.

No. At best, the city delivers mail to postal boxes at the single checkpoint that controls residents’ access to their own city. In some circumstances, such as in the weeks following the Hamas attacks of October 7, 2023, and Israel’s declaration of war on Gaza, mail delivery simply ceases for these residents.

Not always. At best, the ambulance will arrive to the checkpoint and await a police escort, regardless of how long this might take. At worst, the ambulance will reach the Jerusalem side of the checkpoint and require the patient—whatever his or her health status—to go to the checkpoint, pass it (whatever lines may be present), and then submit to a back-to-back transfer from private vehicle to ambulance, often with a security check as part of that process.

0. To access any hospital, residents must wait hours in line to pass a checkpoint, the only route left available to them to reach their own city, even if they are experiencing a life-threatening health emergency.

Kufr ‘Aqab cluster: 3 hours; Shu‘fat refugee camp cluster: 1.5 hours; Bir ‘Awna cluster: 1 hour. These timings apply whether leaving or returning.

No. They must wait in line like everyone else. This can take hours and cost lives.

The city has essentially abandoned its responsibility to oversee urban planning and zoning in these neighborhoods, so the result is that every developer builds wherever and whatever he or she wants, creating severe hazards and unsafe structures.

There is a bill under consideration in the Israeli Knesset called the “Greater Jerusalem Bill.” Under this bill, 19 Jewish settlements would be folded into the city with a dual administrative status so Jewish settlers could vote in municipal elections and still have and vote for their own local councils. The Palestinian neighborhoods beyond the wall, however, would be given their own weak sub-municipalities and removed from the Jerusalem city council and voters’ rolls. According to the bill’s sponsor, MK Israel Katz, the aim of the bill is to “strengthen Jerusalem by adding thousands of Jewish residents to the city and simultaneously weakening the Arab hold on the capital” (i.e., by removing tens of thousands of Palestinians from the city).

No. Because these neighborhoods, although they lie beyond the wall, are still in large part located inside the city’s municipal boundaries, Israeli law applies. Under Israeli law, the PA is banned from operating anywhere within the Israeli-declared municipal boundaries of Jerusalem. Israel takes this ban extremely seriously and considers it a criminal offense if the PA sponsors even the most benign event in the city, such as a puppet show for children.

Yes.

Yes. In fact, this has become almost a routine practice since October 7, 2023. Inspections can occur at checkpoints and gates into spaces such as the Old City, on the walk to school, at bus stops, during school raids, and even in the privacy of the child’s own home. During these inspections, Israeli soldiers meticulously search the phone, examining messages, social media apps—particularly Telegram—private photos and videos, and even checking the recycle bin for deleted content. If content is found that is deemed suspicious, the child can be interrogated or arrested. Such attacks, which violate children’s bodies, places of study, neighborhoods, and homes, constitute a violation of their most intimate spaces.

Jerusalem

No. Anyone of any age can be held under administrative detention for six months, renewable indefinitely. At present the oldest Jerusalemite prisoner is 71 years old.

One to two closed circuit cameras for every five meters walked

12

Yes, and this is not uncommon for Palestinian children.

Yes. In Jerusalem, these inspections can take place at any hour. Commonly, inspection forces show up in the predawn hours, when the household is asleep.

Out of the 180 Palestinian prisoners released in November 2023, 64 were Jerusalemites. Of those, 44 were children.

In the words of Meron Benvenisti, who was deputy mayor of Jerusalem in this period, they planned it in such a way as “not to include too many Arab residents in the annexed area, and to include open areas for the development of Jewish neighborhoods.” So while land was essential, the exclusion of non-Jews from the areas being taken was the overriding consideration.

No. As numerous UN resolutions and legal rulings have found, and as the International Court of Justice recently reaffirmed in a landmark decision (July 19, 2024), Israel’s 1967 occupation of the West Bank (including East Jerusalem) is unlawful. Consequently, regardless of any Israeli laws passed since that time,

• “the State of Israel is under an obligation to cease immediately all new settlement activities, and to evacuate all settlers from the Occupied Palestinian Territory;
• the State of Israel has the obligation to make reparation for the damage caused to all the natural or legal persons concerned in the Occupied Palestinian Territory;
• all States are under an obligation not to recognize as legal the situation arising from the unlawful presence of the State of Israel in the Occupied Palestinian Territory and not to render aid or assistance in maintaining the situation created by the continued presence of the State of Israel in the Occupied Palestinian Territory;
• international organizations, including the United Nations, are under an obligation not to recognize as legal the situation arising from the unlawful presence of the State of Israel in the Occupied Palestinian Territory; and
• the United Nations, and especially the General Assembly, which requested the opinion, and the Security Council, should consider the precise modalities and further action required to bring to an end as rapidly as possible the unlawful presence of the State of Israel in the Occupied Palestinian Territory.”

15; this includes the Jewish Quarter in the Old City, for the expansion of which the city confiscated many Palestinian homes over the years, the Mount Scopus enclave, and the industrial area of Atarot, which now is being developed into a residential settlement. For a full list and detailed analysis, see The Three Israeli Settlement Rings in and around East Jerusalem: Supplanting Palestinian Jerusalem.

35 percent

Under international law, Israel’s occupation of the West Bank, including East Jerusalem, is illegal, as most recently reaffirmed by the International Court of Justice (ICJ) in its advisory opinion of July 19, 2024. Transfer of the civilian population of an occupying power into the territories it occupies is illegal (Fourth Geneva Convention, Article 49, Paragraph 6). By 2023, 230,000 settlers had moved in to East Jerusalem. Confiscation of private property is prohibited without exception in situations of occupation, and the occupying power is required to administer public property for the benefit of the entire local population. Israel has confiscated vast swathes of public land for the exclusive use of Jewish residential spaces, harming the Palestinian population in myriad ways. Therefore, as clarified by the ICJ’s ruling of July 19, these residential spaces Israel has developed within East Jerusalem are considered settlements under international law, and the Jews who reside in them are considered settlers.

Yes. Although a Jewish Quarter had started as a small neighborhood in the beginning of the 15th century, by the early 20th century until 1948 it was in a state of atrophy and decline, and in 1948 it was evacuated and destroyed, left nearly forgotten, its residents relocated to West Jerusalem. From 1948 to 1967, Jews were not allowed there. After the 1967 occupation of East Jerusalem, the Israeli government decided to redevelop this area for Jews and settle it with Jews. To this end, 120 dunums of land were confiscated from Palestinians, an ancient Maghrebi neighborhood was destroyed, and many Palestinian homes were seized abutting areas, street names were Hebraicized, and hundreds of Palestinians were forcibly relocated, as all they were not allowed to enjoy the fruits of a new neighborhood designed for Jews.

Yes. In addition to the earliest one, the Jewish Quarter in the Old City, Jewish settlements are continually being expanded in key Palestinian neighborhoods. After the Jewish Quarter came Beit Orot, which was built in Silwan on the Mount of Olives. The land was purchased around 1990, and the construction of homes there began in January 2011. Since that time several other such settlements have followed, such as Nof Zion in Jabal Mukabbir, Ma’ale HaZeitim in Ras al-Amud, and Ir David in Wadi Hilweh, Silwan. Several more are in the planning stages such as Kidmat Tzion (between Abu Dis and Jerusalem), Umm Lison (Jabal Mukabbir), and Nof Zahav (also in Jabal Mukabbir). This is not including the many individual homes or apartment buildings that have been seized by settler organizations in the heart of Palestinian neighborhoods, most notably Silwan and Sheikh Jarrah, as a tactic to seed a future settlement (see, for example, One Lot at a Time, Israeli Settlers Expand Their Presence in Palestinian Silwan).

Sheikh Jarrah, Silwan, Ras al-Amud, al-Tur (Mount of Olives), and the Old City

One third

In the 1990s, during Netanyahu’s first term as prime minister

The E1 area is located in the center of the occupied Palestinian West Bank, with the Palestinian cities of Ramallah to its north, Bethlehem to its south, and East Jerusalem to its west. The construction of a massive settlement bloc in this pivotal central area would sever the northern West Bank from its southern half, making a contiguous Palestinian state impossible.

Yes. Under the Israeli National Health Insurance Law of 1995, all Israeli citizens and permanent residents are entitled to health insurance. However, Palestinians who live in and around Jerusalem but hold Palestinian Authority IDs are not entitled to Israeli health insurance.

Yes. However, they must apply for a medical entry permit from the Israeli authorities. According to the most recent guideline issued by the COGAT Operations Department on February 8, 2022, entry is only granted for medical reasons for five primary purposes: patient medical needs; accompanying a patient; visiting a sick first-degree relative; being a physician employed by an Israeli hospital; being a senior medical staff person.

Only Palestinian men aged over 55 and women aged over 50 do not require an entry permit. However, they can still be banned from entry to Jerusalem generally if the authorities decide to do so. For example, if one of their relatives commits a security offense, this can result in their being banned from entry to Jerusalem for life.

The process is neither straightforward nor simple. To apply for a medical entry permit, the patient must first obtaining a physician referral (verifying that the treatment is medically necessary and not otherwise provided by Palestinian Ministry of Health [PMOH] hospitals) as well as an approval from the Palestinian Ministry of Health, including medical approval by the PMOH Service Purchase Unit (whether in Gaza or the West Bank) and financial approval by the PMOH Service Purchase Unit in Ramallah, then submitting the application and waiting for it to be approved.

The timeline for approval is wholly unpredictable. According to the World Health Organization, in 2022, for example, the average total time from referral to permit issuance was 33 to 121 days in Gaza for routine cases and 6 to 11 days for urgent cases.

No. The response can just as easily come after the appointment date has passed, or not at all.

The permit will stipulate a precise amount of time the holder is allowed to stay. This timeline is not always reflective of the medical needs, in which case the holder must weigh their health against the possibility of being detained or banned from re-entry in the future if they are caught overstaying their allowed time window.

No. Companions must apply for their own permits and there is no guarantee of approval. For example, in 2022, 20 percent of the applications for companions to travel with patients to Jerusalem were denied. Even if the patient is a child or an elderly individual, companion permits can be denied.

Yes. Permits are more likely to be denied to Palestinians who engaged in political activity such as protests, or who committed “security” offenses, or whose relatives committed or are considered a threat by Israeli authorities. No reason is given for a denial.

50 percent (2017 data)

No. Generally speaking, the ambulance waits at the entrance to the village or in the case of neighborhoods beyond the wall, at the checkpoint. The family must transport the patient, no matter how critically ill, to the waiting ambulance themselves, either in a private car or another medical transport vehicle. The patient must then be unloaded from that vehicle into the ambulance, costing precious time and in some cases, lives. According to the World Health Organization, in 2022, 93 percent of ambulance transfers were delayed due to this “back-to-back” transfer procedure.

Anything that enters the occupied West Bank or Gaza has to be approved by Israel. Israel has declared a long list of items to have the potential for “dual use”—that is, both civil use but also potentially (in Israel’s view) harmful military use. As radiotherapy machines (and even X-Ray machines) are on this list, radiation therapy simply cannot be obtained in these areas. Instead, patients must apply for medical entry permits to get radiation therapy in Jerusalem.

Yes, routinely. In fact, Israel has closed at least 88 Palestinian institutions, unions, media offices, and other bodies since it occupied East Jerusalem in 1967. Dozens more have been forced to relocate outside the boundaries of the city, to Ramallah and elsewhere.

The Orient House in Sheikh Jarrah was closed on August 10, 2001. Although the closure order was only for six months, it has been continuously renewed ever since then every six months. Described as the “national gathering place for Palestinians in Occupied East Jerusalem” and as a “symbol of the unified Palestinian struggle to free east Jerusalem from Israeli occupation,” the building was once the headquarters of the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) in Palestine and the only building in Jerusalem to fly the Palestinian flag.

Bodies serving governmental functions such as the municipality and all its departments, organizations doing political and diplomatic work such as the Orient House, unions, mosques, schools, educational organizations, health centers, businesses, bookshops, economic organizations, social services organizations, youth groups, sports clubs, women’s rights groups, charities, banks, blood banks, and more.

No. On October 28, 2024, Israel passed a law banning UNRWA from operating within its “sovereign territory.” In the Israeli view, this includes the municipal boundaries of East and West Jerusalem. On May 8, 2025, Israel ordered all the remaining UNRWA schools in the city to close.

No. The land was leased to UNRWA by the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan back in 1952, when East Jerusalem was under Jordanian control. UNRWA has paid a symbolic rental feel to the Hashemite Kingdom every year since then and has remained in exclusive possession of the compound since 1967. There has never been a transfer of property.

No. According to the Spokesperson for the UN Secretary General, Antonio Guterres, in a statement issued on January 15, 2026, “As recently confirmed by the International Court of Justice, any executive, administrative, judicial or legislative action against United Nations property and assets is prohibited under the Convention on the Privileges and Immunities of the United Nations.”

Since it began operations on May 1, 1950.

Yes. In fact, in just one decade alone, from 2010 to 2020, Israel issued over 80 military orders to shut down Palestinian events in East Jerusalem, including cultural, educational, and employment activities, as well as press conferences.

Yes; for example, health, medicine, law, and social services. However, a law is advancing in the Israeli parliament that would restrict people with degrees from Palestinian academic institutions from teaching in Israel.

Four. Three are located within the city boundaries (J1), and one is located just on the other side of the Separation Wall and the boundaries, in Abu Dis.

Al-Aqa Mosque, also referred to interchangeably as al-Haram al-Sharif (in English, the Noble Sanctuary, also referred to by Jews as the Temple Mount in English or Har ha-Bayit in Hebrew)

The Church of the Holy Sepulchre

The Status Quo is a set of rights and obligations based in historic rulings and traditions that has elements extending as far back as the 12th century, but in the main dates from Ottoman legislation passed in the 19th century. It sets out the rights and obligations of all the various sects (Muslims, Christians, and Jews) at the key religious sites in the city.

No. It is considered binding international law and therefore supersedes domestic law.

No. Persons in this category must apply for a military entry permit to enter the city, and these are often denied. The only time of the year this requirement can be somewhat relaxed for some categories of people is during the four Fridays of Ramadan. On these four days only, specific classes of people (e.g., men over a certain age) are supposed to be allowed to enter to pray, but the conditions for doing that are becoming more restrictive each year.

No. Israel restricts entry to the mosque in a variety of ways: by age and gender, by time of day, and by individual bannings.

Yes, this is a fairly common practice. Hundreds of individuals have been and continue to be banned without any avenue of appeal, including religious authorities and Waqf Department employees.

Only one, Al-Quds University

The main underlying legal ground for this policy comes under Regulation 119 of the Defence (Emergency) Regulations 1945, which is an adapted law from the era of the Colonial British Mandate in Palestine. Israel has often justified actions against Palestinian civil society by citing “security” concerns.

Furthermore, under the Law Implementing Agreement on Gaza and Jericho Areas (1994) (also known as “Restriction of Activity Law”), which implements the 1993 Oslo I Agreement, the Palestinian Authority (PA), or any person acting on its behalf or under its auspices or using its name, is prohibited from operating anywhere within the Israeli-declared municipal boundaries of Jerusalem. Israel takes this ban extremely seriously and considers it a criminal offense if the PA sponsors any type of activity in the city, even a coronavirus clinic or a soccer game. This is in accordance with the common pretext for Israel’s closure of Palestinian organizations or banning Palestinian activities in Jerusalem, namely, that the PA is somehow involved, but more often than not, Israel does not provide evidence for its claims.

No. The response can just as easily come after the appointment date has passed, or not at all.

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The Palestinian Authority

The Palestinian Authority

Yes, every child aged 5 to 18 is required to receive free education, regardless of religion.

Yes. This practice is applied to all Palestinians living under Israeli rule, even (after October 7, 2023) those who are citizens. Since October 7, 2023, every Palestinian killed by Israeli forces has had their body withheld.

No.

Banning celebrations or “expressions of joy,” house arrest, deportation to the West Bank for days or weeks, and media blackouts

Israel froze land settlement and registration in East Jerusalem in 1967 for 51 years, until 2018.

The Israeli state body that manages land and property that has been determined under the Israeli Absentees’ Property Law—1950 to belong to those—generally Palestinians—declared “absentees.” While this office is supposed to hold such properties for guardianship, until a political solution for the Palestinian refugees is reached, in actuality, it frequently transfers these properties to Jews.

No. Data compiled by UN OCHA in early 2025 show that of the 247 checkpoints in the occupied West Bank (including East Jerusalem), only 38 percent were staffed 24/7, while 62 were only intermittently staffed, and of those, 29 percent were frequently closed.

About 15,000

It “redeems” the land of “Eretz Israel” by (1) buying land from Palestinians and churches and passing it to Jewish hands, and (2) finding Jewish properties that Palestinians have occupied and helping them force the Palestinians out.

The Israeli state body that manages or oversees assets that allegedly belonged to Jews prior to 1948, until they are “reclaimed” (i.e., given over to Jewish ownership)

No. Data compiled by UN OCHA in early 2025 show that of the 288 road gates in the occupied East Bank (including East Jerusalem), about 60 percent are frequently closed.

Yes, for some roads that connect areas of the occupied West Bank with areas Israel considers under its sovereignty, access and usage are stratified by license plate. In general, Israelis with yellow plates are allowed direct access to Israeli-populated areas such as Jerusalem, while Palestinians with green plates from the West Bank are routed around those access points and not allowed to get off the highway as frequently or easily. Thus, some highways are being built as four-lane highways split by high dividing cement walls, with yellow-plated cars using one side and green-plated cars (who are not allowed to drive on the Israeli side) using another.

Yes, 21 percent

Yes, 7.5 percent

69.5 percent. Note that this does not include Palestinian communities of Ramallah and Bethlehem, or the dozens of Bedouin communities east of Jerusalem

No. On January 21, 2026, Israel’s parliament approved a law banning Palestinian university graduates from teaching in Israeli schools.

Under the law, teachers with a degree from a Palestinian institution can be employed at an Israeli school only if they also hold a degree from an Israeli institution unless “it is proven that their employment would have a harmful influence on students or minors.”

The law doesn’t apply to teachers already employed in Israel’s education system.