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For Some Palestinians in East Jerusalem, a Pragmatic "Israelification"
(Christian Science Monitor) Joshua Mitnick - More Palestinians from east Jerusalem are becoming Israeli citizens. Suha, a young Palestinian lawyer who passed the Israeli bar, said, "A lot of people are applying for it. Even people you would never expect: like sheikhs with beards. The lawyers that I work with all have it....Eventually I'm going to do it." Ever since Israel conquered and immediately annexed east Jerusalem in 1967, the city's hundreds of thousands of Palestinian residents resisted the Israeli system, even as their blue residency cards afforded them Israeli social benefits and freedom of movement. That meant preferring the status of permanent resident to full Israeli citizenship. In recent years, however, there have been hundreds of applicants for citizenship every year when once there were almost none. Palestinians are also increasingly moving into Jewish neighborhoods in Jerusalem. Sari Saeed, a hairdresser, now lives in the Jewish neighborhood of Pisgat Zeev because it's cheaper than in neighboring Beit Haninah. "Renting here solves a lot of problems," she says. "I am quite happy here and it's very close to work." The neighborhood of French Hill, just next to Hebrew University, also has been popular with Arabs in recent years. "It's been uneventful," says Yossi Klein Halevi, an American-born Israeli writer, referring to the influx of Arab families who have moved into his building.