Israeli decision to revoke the ID card of a released Jerusalem prisoner

The Palestinian Jerusalem Governorate said that the Israeli occupation authorities decided to revoke the permanent Jerusalem identity of released Jerusalemite prisoner Rashid al-Rashq, a move the governorate said deprives him of basic rights, most notably living in his hometown.

“The Palestinian Jerusalem Governorate said that the Israeli occupation authorities decided to revoke the identity of a released Jerusalemite prisoner, which means depriving him of basic rights, most notably living in his hometown”

Al-Jazeera Net

The Individual Rights Center 'Hamoked' (Israeli) informed al-Rashq of the official decision.

Al-Jazeera Net

The governorate noted the decision comes more than a year after al-Rashq won his freedom as part of the prisoner exchange deal between Israel and Hamas in the January 30, 2025 batch.

The governorate quoted al-Rashq as saying the decision "goes beyond being the withdrawal of an identity card; it is an attempt to uproot a person from his city and sever his historical and geographical ties to his land and home."

Al-Rashq said the withdrawal will prevent him from moving freely in Jerusalem and will bar him from passing the military checkpoints that separate him from his home in the Old City.

Al-Jazeera Net

The governorate said the decision places him "before a complex living and legal reality that prevents him from reaching his dwelling and his normal life in the heart of the city."

Rashid al-Rashq, 25 years old, was accused of planning to assassinate the far-right Israeli National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir before he became a minister in the current government in late 2022; he was arrested in April 2022 and sentenced to 13 years and 10 months in prison.

“The Palestinian Jerusalem Governorate said that the Israeli occupation authorities decided to revoke the identity of a released Jerusalemite prisoner, which means depriving him of basic rights, most notably living in his hometown”

Al-Jazeera Net

The article reports al-Rashq was arrested six times since his childhood, totaling more than six years, and was repeatedly barred from Al-Aqsa Mosque and the Old City, which caused him to miss school and university education.

It also notes that in May 2022 the Israeli intelligence agency 'Shabak' revealed the arrest of five Palestinians from occupied Jerusalem on suspicion of planning to assassinate Ben Gvir and other Israeli figures, and of carrying out bombing operations against occupation targets, among them al-Rashq.

The article explains that the occupation authorities do not recognize most Jerusalem Palestinians as citizens; they treat them as "permanent residents" and grant them a special "blue identity" card used for daily and official transactions but which does not grant rights such as voting and running for office.

It says the occupation authorities have enacted laws that facilitate withdrawing that card and removing holders from the city, and that the procedure has affected more than 14,600 Jerusalemites since 1967, according to previous data from the Israeli Interior Ministry.

Al-Jazeera Net