But during our chat, he told us.

You are so lucky to be here. As an Arab I cannot leave Israel, or not even Jerusalem!

We were surprised by what he said. And then he said the Israeli government doesn’t give them any documentation, such as ID or passport. He said he could go to school but there’s no freedom of movement, and that he’d like to see other relatives.

I was saddened to hear this. So I prayed for this for many years. Then I was confused… why can’t Arabs leave Jerusalem if there are other Arabs in Israel? I didn’t think he would lie to tourists, but was there any misunderstanding? Finally, years later I found something.

Citizenship, Green Card and Blue Card

From an article, I finally understood what the Arab boy meant.

After the Sixth Day War in 1967, Israel took back East Jerusalem, which included Temple Mount, Western Wall (Kotel), and Jewish quarter. The power shifted, but what about the residents?

Options were given to local Arabs. If they’d stay in the same place, then Blue Card the permanent resident would be given. If they wouldn’t accept being ruled by Israel, then they would relocate to West Bank, and then they would receive Green Card.

Blue Card is a permanent resident card.  Rights to social welfare, healthcare, and local election are given. Most Arabs and Armenians in East Jerusalem hold such card. They are not citizens and they don’t have an Israeli passport.

Green Card is the status for Arabs in West Bank. They need to receive a permit from Israeli government if they wish to enter Israeli territory. But they can go to Jordan directly.

Permanent Residency is NOT Permanent

But the Blue Card (permanent residence permit) is not really “permanent”. For example, if an Arab with a Blue Card marries an Arab with Green Card, the Israeli government will not issue another Blue Card for the other spouse. So what happens is they will move move to the West Bank or somewhere else. And the Blue Card can be revoked. If someone is linked to terrorist activities, then the status can be revoked. (Which is reasonable for any country)

In these 50 years, 14,000 Blue Cards have been revoked. In many cases, a terrorist commits an attack and then the entire family will be “exiled” to the West Bank.

I think I understand why after the separation wall was built in 2003, yet we still see terrorist activities in Israel.  It makes sense now because these Arabs are not the Arabs of 1948, these are Arabs from East Jerusalem!

There are other circumstances in which the status can be revoked. If someone with Blue Card lives outside Jerusalem or leaves Israel for too long for work or study, the status can be evoked. The Ministry of the Interior has responded that the definition of “too long” is “7 years”.  So I finally understood this is probably what the boy meant by why he couldn’t leave Jerusalem. He doesn’t know if he leaves Jerusalem, will he have a chance to return? No one wants to lose the right to live in Jerusalem, so he said he couldn’t leave.

Why Don’t They Become Citizens of Israel?

But isn’t it unfair that Arabs in East Jerusalem cannot become Israeli citizens? In fact, they are all eligible to apply for citizenship…. if they are willing. But that means giving up on their political ideologies. Most of them believe that sooner or later Palestine will take Jerusalem back, and they still despise the Jews.

20% of the Israeli population are Arabs, so that’s about 1.6 million people. On Israeli ID card, there is a column for indicating your race, for example, Jew, Arab, Druze etc. Arabs citizens have the same rights and obligations as Jewish citizens. There are 16 (or 17) Arab representatives out of 120 in the Knesset.

Although the war of 1948 and the Sixth Day War in 1967 are only 20 years apart, the second generation of Arabs in East Jerusalem still don’t recognize Israel. Politically they deny Israel, and many of them hold Jordanian passports. Although it is more convenient to travel with Israeli passports, only a few of the would “betray” the tribe. By accepting citizenship, it means recognizing the legitimacy of Israel’s ‘occupation’ to East Jerusalem.

To be a citizen of Israel, one needs to vow to be loyal to the Jewish state and pass basic Hebrew test. This is a standard immigration process, but it is hard because you have different political beliefs.

And by the way, Arabs in Jerusalem forbid each other selling property to Jews.

There are 300,000 Arabs in Jerusalem, only 12% of them hold Israeli citizenship.

Are they happy with Blue Card?

Ironically, Arabs in East Jerusalem don’t mind Israeli government. In a survey on 1039 Arabs in 19 neighborhoods in East Jerusalem, over a third of them admit they would rather be citizens of Israel than to a ‘new founded state of Palestine’, if they’re is ever one. And if the place they live becomes a part of that new state, would they move to a new city in order to become a citizen of Israel? Shockingly 40% of them say yes.

So life isn’t bad under Israel’s rule.

In fact, over 44% Arabs in East Jerusalem have monthly income over $1400. This amount is similar to Arabs in other areas in Israel, and far better than Arabs in West Bank of Gaza. Half of these Arabs don’t want to lose freedom of speech.

So they are hoping that they can have dual nationality- losing nothing in between.  Economics, quality of life, perks, health care, education, and safety etc. If they have to choose, perhaps a passport of Palestine isn’t as important.

Why don’t Christians in East Jerusalem become citizens of Israel?

I have no idea. I think most Chrisitans would jump for the oppurtunities though. But maybe I’ll find out one day.

“You can’t go there by foot, Bethlehem is 2 hours away from here!”

As soon as we passed the wall, taxi drivers surrounded us and gave us ‘good offers’. When we declined the offers, it became sarcasm. Anyways we ignored what they said and followed GPS to reach Manger Square in Bethlehem.

But today’s atmosphere is strange. Usually, there are long queues at checkpoints, but there was no one here today. No vendors, no passers-by, no fruit sellers… where was everyone?

After a few minutes following Google Maps, I found myself in a dead lane.  Did Google Maps expect me to jump over this wall? Or was I missing some secret passage? Suddenly a passerby wearing a blue suit approached us.

“Where do you want to go?”, he said.

I said “manger square”. And then he pointed the direction we came,

“You have to go from there.”

I was a little angry why GPS brought us to this wall.

“There’s no way from here?”

But he gently said,

“There is no road here. The wall has blocked all the roads. You need to go back to the checkpoint. You can catch a taxi or mini-van from there.”

And I protested:

“But there is no mini-van at the checkpoint! Only taxi!”

And then as if he remembered something, he agreed that there was no mini-van today. So finally I brought up my confusion on this unexpected “ghost town” Bethlehem. And he said with a smile,

“It’s Easter Saturday today. There will be activities in the afternoon. Everyone is preparing, so that’s why you don’t see people on the road and shops are not open.” Then he pointed to the building behind him: “I saw you from my house, so I came down to see if you need any help. “

I had never heard about such thing as “Easter Saturday”. Plus Easter was a month ago…..   Did I hear him wrong? Though I knew that 2016 was a strange year because Easter was in March and Passover was in April! Then he said,

“Today is the Easter for Eastern Christians. It is different from the Easter of Gregorian calendar.  I’m going to the event in the afternoon too.”

“Oh! Are you….an Orthodox Christian?”

I studied this man. Greenish-blue eyes. I don’t know if it is polite to ask about someone’s faith. But he frankly shared with us,

“I am a Greek Orthodox Christian because my mother is a Greek, but my wife is a Catholic.”

“Oh! Orthodox Christian and Catholic! So which Easter does your wife celebrate?”

“Actually, we celebrate both. There is Coptic Orthodox, Syrian Orthodox, and Greek Orthodox here and we are all called Christians. We are only 1% and we cannot be divided.”

I keep thinking about his words from his heart.  As an outsider, we see a division of so many sects in Israel, but the locals actually tell us this “we cannot be divided”. That’s powerful! Then he shared his family story, but in short, the wall had been here since 2003. I had no idea why Google Maps took me to a dead end if this wall had been here for more than 10 years…..

Then, Johnny, the man told us that he had never been to Jerusalem since. He just couldn’t get a permit from the Israeli government. But his tone, there was no hatred in his tone.  I was surprised by this because here I was, in front of a real “Palestinian” whose freedom was completely restricted, but as a Christian, he had no complaints against Israel.  Only a tad of sadness with a ton of understanding.  His previous wealthy life is tremendously affected and tourism business isn’t easy, and he could have many reasons to turn cynical, but he didn’t.

And he was the person who told me “We are only 1% and we cannot be divided.”

That is a priceless lesson learned.