French
German
Hebrew
Noruegan
Russian
Spanish
Swedish
Polish
Portuguese
(August 4 2000)
Arabs of eastern Jerusalem have begun paying up all their debts to the Jerusalem Municipality, including all the taxes and fees, in the hope that this will strengthen their links to the Jerusalem [Jewish] Municipality.
Hatzofeh: Eastern Jerusalem Arabs Pay Their Municipal Debts Hoping This Will Spare Them From Annexation by the Palestinian State
Many of them are also bringing their Interior Ministry documents uptodate so that, if a Palestinian state is established, they will be able to claim Israeli citizenship and demand to remain in Israel rather than be annexed to “Palestine.”
Among those doing the above are also Arab residents of villages on Jerusalem’s periphery which Israel annexed in the wake of the Arab-Israel War of 1967. Among these is Wallaja village on the outskirts of Bethlehem.
Jerusalem Arabs fear a political arrangement that will transfer them to the jurisdiction of the Palestinian Authority. In private conversations with Israeli politicians, senior Palestinian officials admit that if a referendum were to be conducted among the Jerusalem Arabs asking them whether they would rather be annexed by the Palestinian Authority or remain under Israeli jurisdiction, the overwhelming majority would vote to remain under Israel.
