Overview

Jerusalem is home to about one million residents, 40% of whom are Palestinians. About 90% of Jerusalem’s Palestinian residents have permanent residency status (Hebrew) in Israel, and 9% are Israeli citizens. Sixty percent of Jerusalem’s Palestinian residents live below the poverty line (Hebrew), twice the poverty rate among the city’s Jewish population.

Despite having permanent residency status, and citizenship in some cases, Palestinian residents of East Jerusalem (the parts of the city annexed by Israel in 1967) suffer from longstanding, systematic, multi-faceted discrimination, which has only intensified in recent years. Basic municipal services, such as education, water, infrastructure maintenance, and garbage collection, are not provided on a consistent basis and, at times, are not provided at all. Roadblocks disrupt the daily lives of tens of thousands of residents. During the war with Iran between late February and April 2026, additional movement and access restrictions were imposed, some of which remained in force even after the ceasefire was declared.

A review of government and municipal decisions, the Settlement of Land Title procedures, planning and construction policies, and urban development paints a grim picture of land grabs and systematic measures to increase the Jewish presence in East Jerusalem at the expense of its Palestinian residents, who, meanwhile, suffer from overcrowding and have no adequate housing solutions. For instance, since Israel renewed the Settlement of Land Title (SOLT; the process of assigning land titles and officially registering land) in East Jerusalem in 2018, only 1% of the land whose status was finalized has been registered in the name of Palestinian owners, while most has been declared State land. The government is simultaneously approving plans to build tens of thousands of housing units, some on these newly registered lands, for the Jewish public, discriminating against local Palestinian residents and pushing them out.

In January 2026, the government decided to accelerate SOLT and set a target of completing title settlements for 100% of the land in East Jerusalem within four years. At the same time, the number of housing units approved for Palestinian residents of the city has dropped significantly, while the demolition of Palestinian homes and structures steadily rises. In March 2026, 15 Palestinian families were forced out of their homes in the Batan al-Hawa neighborhood by a court order, and hundreds of additional families are under threat of expulsion.