First of all, Palestine is it’s own beast. It doesn’t really compare to any other struggle for rights but I think if this show were done in Israel it would have a closer connection to the Civil Rights Movement in the US. In 1948 any Palestinian who stayed inside the designated boarder of Israel was forced to take an Israeli ID. Those people who hold that passport are not always treated equal to their fellow citizens. It is a different situation here in Palestine. As of 1967 there is an occupying force in their country so they have no rights or very little rights, as they are not citizens but ‘residents.’ It is more akin to Gandhi’s fight against the British’s occupation of India. Something that is difficult for us to understand is that the Palestinians inside Jerusalem are completely stateless. They hold a blue Identity card, which they cannot loose or they loose the right to be in their city. If they leave for over five years or overstay a visa or a number of other technicalities, they loose their right to hold the card and without the card, are unable to come into Jerusalem or anywhere inside Israel. The citizens here pay taxes to the municipality but do not get the service. You can see it in the conditions of the streets, the inability to get building permits, the overflowing open air garbage cans where they must burn their garbage to make room for more as they do not get the trash picked up on a regular schedule. It’s astonishing.
The best link I have found to give you a full picture is
ifamericansknew.org
to watch a video about the jerusalem ID card go to:
http://www.presstv.ir/detail/165263.html
and if you want to read the EU Head of Mission report go to
http://english.aljazeera.net/mritems/Documents/2011/1/10/201111020542498442710_01_11_eu_hom_report_on_east_jerusalem.pdf
