As part of its efforts to Judaise Jerusalem, the Israeli Interior Ministry revoked the residency of 5,584 Jerusalemites in the last three years, a Palestinian human rights organisation said on Dec. 29, 2011. The Jerusalem Centre for Social and Economic Rights said in a statement that the Israeli Interior Ministry revoked the residency of 14,466 Jerusalemites since the occupation of the city in 1967. The centre said that its report was based on data it received from the Israeli ministry. It added that these Arabs have been living in the East Jerusalem neighbourhoods of Al-Bareed, KafrAqab and Samiramees.
Ziad Al-Hammouri, the director of the centre, said that the Israeli government revokes the residency of any resident who leaves the city for more than seven years. Al-Hammouri added that around 70,000 Arabs under the threat of losing their residency in Jerusalem since they now live east of the wall that separates the disputed city from the occupied West Bank. The official was referring to the Shu’fat refugee camp, Ras Khamis, Ras Shihadeh and Al-Salam neighbourhoods.