Over the past decade, 2,641 of the 7,168 applications were approved, for an acceptance rate of 36.8 percent. By contrast, in 2015 the acceptance rate was 2.9 percent.
Although the rate of applications by residents of east Jerusalem for Israeli citizenship has remained steady in recent years, the approval rate has plummeted.
Figures obtained by The Jerusalem Post in advance of Jerusalem Day being observed Sunday, provided by the Interior Ministry’s Population and Immigration Authority, reveal the ongoing decrease in the approval rate.
In 2012, 426 of 719 citizenship applications were approved.
In 2013, the number dropped to 262 of 705 applications. In 2014, only 49 of 875 requests were approved. Last year, a mere 24 of 829 citizenship requests were approved. So far this year, four of the 396 applications have been stamped “yes.”
Over the past decade, 2,641 of the 7,168 applications were approved, for an acceptance rate of 36.8 percent. By contrast, in 2015 the acceptance rate was 2.9 percent.
Since applications can take several years to process, those approved in a particular year may have been filed previously.
Asked why the acceptance rate has plummeted, an Immigration Authority representative responded, “We do not analyze the data.”
As a result of the Six Day War in June 1967, in which the capital was reunited, some 350,000 Jerusalem Arabs today live under Israel’s authority, making up 35% of the city’s population.
While all hold blue Interior Ministry ID cards marking their permanent residence status and they receive National Insurance Institute benefits, the great majority are not Israeli citizens.
Many are stateless.
The vast majority of those Arabs decline to apply for Israeli citizenship. “I declare I will be a loyal citizen of the State of Israel,” reads the oath that must be sworn by naturalized citizens.
Similarly, only around 1.5 percent of Arab residents vote in municipal elections even though they have a right to. As a result, Arabs have no representative in the city council who can advance their interests.
A knowledgeable government source, after viewing the data, told the Post, “The Interior Ministry is not committed to the reunification of Arab families, and rightly so. The problem is that some good and loyal people suffer from this policy.”
However, said the source, “The security situation makes a good excuse to deny these applications,” adding that many rejected applicants have appealed their cases in court.
@ Ted Belman:I agree with many of the things you listed partially or completely.
However, due to the 350,000 Jews living past the Green Line in Jerusalem plus how Israeli Jews feel about Jerusalem I do not believe we are moving out of Jerusalem.
Ted Belman Said:
BB is doing everything to give it away:
1- he incarcerates and defames settlers and zionists in an agenda to get the Israeli public to turn against settlers and be willing to give away YS… except for the existing major blocks.
2- he facilitated euro illegal building in YS for 8 years while blocking jewish settlement in C outside the major blocks
3- He makes absolutely sure to NEVER utter these words: JEWISH SETTLEMENT IN YS IS LEGAL AND LEGITIMATE because he is afraid that if he utters those words then other Jews might start to beleive they have a right to settle there… and it appears clear that he wants no settlement outside the euro designated ghetto boundaries of the major blocks.
BB cant even tell the state dept and obama or the world that the ethnically cleansed Jews of the city of David should be returned… BB refuses to tell the US that they are lying when they state that Jewish settlement in the city of david is illegitimate…. trade in BB for abbas because I am sure that the loser and the vanquished abbas would have the gonads to utter those words for his pals.
A jewish PM of Israel who refuses to utter those words everytime the euros, UN, EU and USA utter their lying blood libels is a worthless PM… unworthy to pretend to lead the Jews.
@ Bear Klein:
ISRAEL IS DOING NOTHING TO SOLIDIFY OUR HOLD ON IT. Bibi says it will remain undivided but if you look at our policies they suggest otherwise.
1. We don’t build in Jerusalem east of ’67 lines
2. We let the Arabs build illegally.
3. A lot more illegal buildings go up per year than get demolished.
4. We don’t exercise sovereignty there nor do we provide services like police or sewers and so on. At least not on an equal basis.
5. We have drastically cut down the number of citizenship applications we grant.
Did I leave anything out?
I feel the same about J&S. We do not assert our rights nor our control. Rather than making moves to solidify our hold on it we permit the EU to put Arab facts on the ground.
Finally if we were serious about keeping it all we would have a massive budget to mount a huge campaign to convince the world.
Video of Jews celebrating Jerusalem Day. 10s of Thousands.
This is a true celebration of joy and freedom.
http://www.jewishpress.com/multimedia/video-picks/the-kotel-conclusion-of-the-jerusalem-day-parade-video/2016/06/06/
@ Ted Belman:
So Ted you believe Jerusalem is being given away or divided? You think this is actually happening?
@ bernard ross:
My thoughts exactly.
if you intend to give east jerusalem away then it makes no sense giving the arabs there a citizenship.