Under a recently enacted law, Israel’s Interior Minister Aryeh Deri has expressed his intentions to strip the residency status of 12 Palestinians in Jerusalem, accusing them of being involved in terror.
Four of the 12 are elected Parliamentarians affiliated with the Hamas Movement.
The law, passed two weeks ago, gives the interior minister the power to strip the residency documents of any Palestinian on grounds of a breach of loyalty to Israel.
But last year, the Supreme Court ruled that the interior minister does not have the power to do so after a petition was filed by rights groups.
In response, the Israeli government enacted the bill two weeks ago, giving the minister the legal means to strip the residency documents of any Palestinian whom he deems a threat.
Rights groups have blasted the new law as racist and illegal.
Palestinians in the city are given permanent residency ID cards and temporary Jordanian passports that are only used for travel purposes. They are essentially stateless, stuck in legal limbo � they are not citizens of Israel, nor are they citizens of Jordan or Palestine.
Since 1967, Israel has revoked the status of at least 14,000 Palestinians.
Source: Palestine Chronicle
