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ID System

Israeli authorities control the population registry of Palestinians in the West Bank and Gaza Strip as well as that of Israeli citizens.[1] Based on these records, a system of different coloured ID cards dictates where people can live, work and travel, and what other rights they can access.[2] This ID system, akin to the pass system in apartheid South Africa,[3] creates a hierarchy in which Jewish Israelis have the most rights, and Palestinians are granted (or denied) rights depending on which “population group” they belong to. The system also entirely excludes exiled Palestinian refugees who are denied the right to live anywhere in historic Palestine.

Sources

  1. Gisha. 2010. Who Controls the Palestinian Population Registry?
  2. H. Tawil-Souri. 2011. Colored Identity
  3. SA History. 2011. Pass laws in South Africa 1800-1994