Conflicts often have unintended consequences. The attention that US President Donald Trump has brought to Jerusalem has raised the city’s profile in Palestine and the world, shedding light on the many problems facing the city and its Palestinian population. Jerusalem’s 330,000 Arab residents received a small gift this week in the form of a change in Jordanian policy that will make life a little bit easier. In an interview on a television show dedicated to Jerusalem, Fawaz Shahwan, head of the Civil Affairs Department at the Interior Ministry, said Jerusalemites will soon be able to process personal documents without having to travel to Jordan to do so.
Palestinians registered as residents in Jerusalem are stateless. They are neither citizens of Palestine, Israel or Jordan, but are allowed to carry Jordanian travel documents. In the past, Palestinians in Jerusalem needing to renew a travel document or file a birth or marriage certificate had to travel across the King Hussein Bridge to Jordanian Interior Ministry offices in Amman. Israeli-issued permits to exit across the bridge (NIS 230) and an exit tax (NIS 180) amount to about $120 per person. The fee for a passport is itself 200 Jordanian dinars ($282).
