Sources: Netanyahu considering revoking residency from east Jerusalem Arabs

The prime minister is allegedly mulling the move in response to current wave of violence, sources in Knesset Foreign Affairs and Defense C'tee say.

By JPOST.COM STAFF, LAHAV HARKOV
Updated: OCTOBER 28, 2015 18:05
Does residency revocation=dividing Jerusalem?
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is considering revoking residency permits from Arabs living in east Jerusalem, according to sources in the Knesset Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee, which Netanyahu was addressing on Monday.
Such a measure would be taken to deal with the recent spate of terror attacks that has left ten Israelis dead and dozens more wounded. Many of the attackers have hailed from east Jerusalem neighborhoods.
Channel 2 reported Sunday that Netanyahu first brought up the possibility of revoking some rights of Palestinians living in east Jerusalem at a security cabinet meeting two weeks ago.
At the security cabinet meeting, Netanyahu reportedly complained of lawlessness in Palestinian neighborhoods in those outlying areas.
Jerusalem Palestinians are not Israeli citizens, but they hold Israeli-issued blue IDs that grant them permanent resident status.
"We have to think about what to do. There are all sorts of possibilities. But it is impossible to give them all of the rights without having them fulfill all of their responsibilities," Channel 2 quoted Netanyahu as saying.
Speaking ahead of Monday's Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee meeting, Yisrael Beytenu leader Avigdor Liberman rejected Netanyahu's reported interest in revoking east Jerusalem Arab's residency as "a public relations exercise."
Liberman said that Netanyahu does not intend to, nor is it possible to, "revoke, across the board, residency from all residents of east Jerusalem."
"My wish is that we revoke citizenship from all those involved in terror. That is possible, and that is what must be done," Liberman said.
He said that the fact that the Netanyahu government has failed to even outlaw the Islamic State's Northern Branch, which Israel holds is behind much of the incitement that has sparked the recent wave of violence, proves that the prime minister's consideration of revoking residency from east Jerusalem Arabs is not serious.
Reuters contributed to this report.