Israel’s security cabinet approved early Wednesday the revocation of residency status for Palestinians who carry out attacks and the police closure of occupied East Jerusalem.
Israeli police are now entitled to "impose a closure on, or to surround, centers of friction and incitement in Jerusalem, in accordance with security considerations," according to reports by Israeli news site Haaretz.
The cabinet also called in army reinforcements for police in cities and main roads, and 300 security guards are expected to be stationed on and around public transportation. The reinforcements will cost 80 million shekels ($20.6), the report said.
Also according to the new measures, the permanent residency status of Palestinians who carry out attacks will be revoked and their property confiscated.
Palestinians living in occupied East Jerusalem are not Israeli citizens and hold the status of “permanent resident.” Israeli policy makes it difficult for Jerusalem Palestinians to retain the status, and over 14,300 Palestinians have lost residency since 1967 despite being from the area.
Israeli rights group B’Tselem called the Israeli government’s response “the very inverse of what ought to be done” in realistic efforts to stop current violence.
“The events of recent weeks cannot be viewed in a vacuum, isolated from the reality of the ongoing, daily oppression of 4 million people, with no hope of change in sight,” the group said in a statement on Tuesday.
“At present, Israelis are exposed to untenable violence, but the status quo almost all Israelis have come to see as acceptable in fact exposes millions of Palestinians to violence that is a consequence of the very regime of occupation, with its inherent features of oppression, dispossession and the trampling of rights,” B’Tselem added.
The group also criticized the policy pushed by Israeli government officials to ‘shoot and kill’ Palestinians suspected of carrying out an attack. The practice, it said, makes Palestinian lives “forfeit, even when they no longer pose a threat.”
Wednesday’s measures come in the latest attempts by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to retain control over tensions that have spiraled in recent weeks..
Yesterday three Israelis were killed and up to 27 injured in four separate attacks across Israel and occupied East Jerusalem. Two suspected Palestinian attackers were shot dead on scene.
Thirty Palestinians have been killed in the occupied Palestinian territory by Israeli forces since Oct. 1, and seven Israelis have been killed in attacks.
