Jerusalem, Israel’s capital and largest city, houses approximately 920,000 residents including 350,000 Arabs, who constitute 32% of the city’s population. The civil status of most of the Arabs are “residents,” due to the controversial status of East Jerusalem in the international sphere and the controversy with the Palestinian Authority (PA), which views Jerusalem as its capital — in a future peace agreement.
Jerusalem is viewed as a poor city in general, but the situation of the Arabs in Jerusalem is worse than that of Arabs in the rest of the country. The incidence of poverty of the East Jerusalem Arabs reaches 78%, versus 50% among Israeli Arabs in general, and 25% among Jerusalem’s Jewish population.