Israel captured West Jerusalem during the 1948 war, and illegally occupied and annexed East Jerusalem in 1967 in contravention to international law and Un resolutions. Since then, Israeli measures – including the annexation of adjacent land, forcible displacement, home demolitions, the construction of a high concrete separation Wall on occupied territories and the use of a very stringent permit regime for Palestinians residents – have increasingly cut off East Jerusalem from the rest of the Palestinian Occupied Territories. The area incorporated in Jerusalem’s expanded municipal border after 1967 comprises around 370,000 Palestinians and some 208,000 Israeli settlers. Palestinians who have temporarily left Jerusalem lost their right to return to their home, while the rest became “permanent residents”(not equal citizens) in Israel – a legal status given to any foreign national wishing to reside in Israel. Overall, 35%of the land in East Jerusalem has been expropriated for Israeli settlement use; 76% of Palestinian residents and 83% of the children live below the Israel-defined poverty line, and nearly 15,000 Palestinians have their residency revoked. Though they pay taxes, Palestinians suffer from vastly unequal public investment in their infrastructure, schools and health facilities

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