8月5日VOA聽力：巴勒斯坦人追求以色列身份
WASHINGTON— Most Palestinians living in EastJerusalem have long rejected the option of fullIsraeli citizenship, seeing it as a betrayal to theirpolitical cause - the formation of a Palestinianstate with East Jerusalem as its capital. But asthat dream remains elusive, more and morePalestinians are applying for Israeli citizenship.
Palestinians seeking Israeli citizenship usually say they do not have a choice.
"I have a bad feeling because I prefer to have the passport of my country as a Jerusalemite, asa Palestinian, so I should have a Palestinian passport. But unfortunately I cannot get one.Instead, I got something that will only connect me more to Jerusalem," said a Palestinianteacher, who asked not to be identified.
While some Palestinians say that full-fledged citizenship enables them to get better jobs andmore benefits, others disagree.
"For someone that has children, expenses, a house and a shop and all these things, thecitizenship could never help. If they give us a passport and take away our IDs, it is the same forme,” said Ghassan Nofal, an East Jerusalem resident.
It is not all about benefits. The suburban Jerusalem homes of some Palestinians got separatedfrom the rest of the city by an Israeli concrete wall built ten years ago after a rash of suicidebombings. Those Palestinians fear they may lose Jerusalem residency.
Interior Ministry figures obtained by the Reuters news agency show that there were 1,434passport applications for the year 2012-2013, of which 189 have been approved. Most of therest are still being processed.
"We are indeed witnessing an increase in the number of East Jerusalemites who havepermanent residency status in the state of Israel who are seeking Israeli citizenship. Thequestion of how big this increase is - is debatable," said Amnon Ramon, a researcher at theJerusalem Institute for Israel Studies.
Palestinian officials pushing for a state that would include the territory of East Jerusalem areconcerned.
"There is a big risk that if the situation continues, what will the Palestinians negotiate about?They want to negotiate about land - they already lost the land. They want to negotiate for thepopulation and the population is being lost," said Khalil Tafakji, a former member of thePalestinian negotiating team.
The demographic impact could be even wider, they say, when one considers that the childrenof those who become Israeli are born Israeli citizens. Officials in Jerusalem deny that thedemographics will affect Israel's negotiations with Palestinians.
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