Jerusalem Palestinians: Would you take Israeli citizenship?

Filmed before October 2023 war
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[aminyassin]

This video is confusing to people who are not from Israel/Palestine. It doesn't explain well the differences of status. As an Israeli and Palestinian myself (I'm what is called israeli-Arab), let me try to explain.

First of all, there are the two main entities, Israel and the Palestinian Territories (which includes the "West Bank" and Gaza) - the PT is not yet a recognized state by the United Nations (but it is recognised by UNESCO I believe).

People who live in Israel have Israeli citizenship, including Jewish and non-Jewish minorites, like the Arab minority which constitutes 20% of the population of Israel. These Arabs are in fact Palestinians by blood but they have Israeli citizenship and they are 100% equal with Jewish citizens in front of the Israeli law (of course there is still discrimination against them and some right wing politicians try to make legislations in recent years to downgrade them yet they are citizens with full rights and voting rights).

People who live in Palestine have Palestinian citizenship. So far it's clear.

People who live in Jerusalem are special case because Jerusalem itself geographically sits on the line between Israel and the Palestinian Territories. The border between the two actually run in the city and cuts it in two: East Jerusalem and West Jerusalem (like East and West Berlin).

West Jerusalem is on the Israeli side and East Jerusalem is in the Palestinian side. And the Old City of Jerusalem (where the Temple Mount, al-Aqsa mosque and the Via Dolorosa, which is the road that Jesus last walked carrying the cross of his crucifixion, are all within the Old City) literally sits on this stitch between East and West Jerusalem, right in the middle, like it's the heart of it all, and it can be accessed from both East and West.

The problem with the status of the Palestinians living in East Jerusalem is that while they belong to the Palestinian authority geographically, Israel is actually claiming ALL of Jerusalem both East and West to be under its jurisdiction. And there's actually one Israeli municipality for the city - an Israeli one. So, while the Palestinians living in East Jerusalem are citizens of the not-yet-a-recogized Palestinian state, they are at the same time considered *residents* of the city of Jerusalem which by Israeli law is an Israeli city. So they have voting rights in Palestine but they get their garbage collected by Israel (the Jerusalem municipality). It's a strange situation therefore. That's why they have a special kind of ID, sometimes referred to as "Blue ID", which is different from the regular Israeli ID, which Israeli citizens (Jews and non-Jews) have.

The neighbourhood of Beit Safafa the last lady mentioned is actually a neighborhood in Jerusalem that has mostly only Arabs living in it, but the border between Israel and Palestine runs through it cutting it also to East and west. So the Arab residents of this neighbourhood are divided: those living in the west side are Israeli in every sense of the term (just like Arabs living in Jaffa, Haifa or elsewhere within Israel) while the Arabs living in East Beit Safafa have a "Blue ID". Although both sides are Palestinian by hertiage they have different status even though they live door to door.

Israel allows East Jeruslaem Palestinians to apply for an Israeli citizenship, but they need to declare their 'obedience' to the state and to give up all previous nationalities. From the 360K East Jeruslaem Arab residents 15K chose to get the Israeli citizenship - about 4%. Having said that, I personally heard stories that Israel can make it challenging to obtain the citizenship for them and even refuse it. So it's not a straightforward process.

Hope this explains a little bit more and gives a framework for the video.

[muzz]

Im from Jerusalem and i applied and got it

[emanuell]

The lady interviewed last was very nice, reasonable, intelligent, warm and cute.

[farfiman]

How many Israeli Arabs have given up their citizenship. None. That's all you need to know. Most of these people say no now because they are allowed to live in Jerusalem and have many of the rights of Israeli citizens even without full citizenship.

[scottsimon]

I have an Arab Muslim friend from Jerusalem who recently became an Israeli citizenship. Before that when I asked him if he was Palestinian he was insulted. He's proud of being Israeli. There are many who want Israeli citizenship but they are afraid of the backlash by other Muslims.

[simko]

Many of the East Jerusalem Arab people did it long time ago and have the right to vote.

[harshavijay]

If they are so proud about belong a Palestinian, why do they cherish an American Citizenship?

[karolinailic]

They do not want passport because they do not recognase Israel 🇮🇱 as a state ....

[scottymackay]

As usual, the problem is their society doesn't allow them to speak freely - as one woman admitted. The last woman seemed like a nice person!

[agadre]

Hope there will be peace and all the people live together in prosperity without hate.

[burninorable]

Wishing a very happy Purim to every Jew worldwide in both Israel and the diaspora. חג פורים שמך

[Emanuela]

Look how nice people they are, independently from their answers! God bless them!

[mikeg]

This is the counter point to people who say the Palestinians just need eqal rights. That's not what they want. They want Israel to not exist.

[hiramabiff]

All I understand is, the is just one country across the middle east where Jew/Gentile/Arab can live and worship side by side and even run for parliament/political office no matter what religion they follow. Israel.

[OneColorRainbow-ztxr]

I am Palestinian and I would gladly take it. Any country that gives me rights I would be grateful for that.

[chrissim]

So they want all the rights of citizenship but don't want citizenship because of ideological reasons that's an ignorant point of view, the last lady is right.

[fizameeraj]

‘I don’t want something that doesn’t belong to me’

[tecumseh]

Didn't seem to bother them when the ottomans ruled that area

[ih]

May I suggest asking those who refuse the Israeli citizenship why they still take the Israeli social insurance fee

[FairyCRat]

I'm glad that you found some that do want Israeli citizenship. One thing that some people seem to have forgotten is that 5% of East Jerusalem Palestinians are actually already Israeli citizens. In 2013, Palestinian president Abbas said "in the final solution, we would not see the presence of a single Israeli, civilian or soldier, on our land", he doesn't seem to realize that that essentially means expelling some of his own people from his claimed capital.