Reports that the division of Jerusalem may be announced later this month at the big Middle East conference being organized by Condoleezza Rice in Annapolis, Maryland, have prompted Palestinian residents of the city to make a move once considered the ultimate treason.
There has been a staggering growth in Israeli citizenship requests in recent weeks as thousands of East Jerusalem Palestinians scramble to obtain Israeli passports, fearful that Arab neighborhoods of Jerusalem will be handed over to Palestinian Authority rule, Ynet reports today.
Some 250,000 Palestinians currently reside in Jerusalem. Only 12,000 of them have sought to obtain an Israeli passport since 1967, an average of about 300 new citizens a year.