The annexation of Jerusalem: how 1967 shaped Palestinian oppression

In June 1967, Israel seized East Jerusalem during the Six-Day War (5-10 June 1967), a move that changed the trajectory of Palestinian life forever.

What Israel framed as a military victory was, for Palestinians, the beginning of intensified dispossession, systemic discrimination, and the fragmentation of their capital. Overnight, Palestinians living in East Jerusalem found themselves reclassified as “permanent residents” rather than citizens – a status that could be revoked at any time, and one that excluded them from national political participation in the country that now claimed control over their lives.

While Israelis celebrate “Jersualem Day” every year, Palestinians commemorate Naksa – the forced displacement of around 300,000 Palestinians from the West Bank, Gaza Strip and Jerusalem and the destruction of dozens of Palestinian villages. In this blog, we look at the displacement and changes to Jerusalem.

Land grab, apartheid practices and identity erasure

The annexation was immediate and unilateral. Israel expanded Jerusalem’s municipal boundaries to incorporate vast swathes of occupied West Bank land, in defiance of international law. The international community never recognised this annexation.

The new municipal boundaries were drawn largely following Israeli political, demographic and economic interests, designed to ensure a Jewish majority in Jerusalem. This was achieved by leaving out densely populated Palestinian areas and incorporating sparsely populated ones. The area that constituted urban Jerusalem under Jordanian rule (about 600 hectares) was only a small part of the annexed territory; most of it (about 6,400 hectares) belonged to 28 Palestinian villages and suburbs near Jerusalem.

For Palestinians, it meant not only the loss of their political agency but the beginning of an apartheid system embedded in planning, residency, and access to basic services. While Israeli settlements in East Jerusalem were given full state support – roads, infrastructure, and rapid permit approvals – Palestinian neighbourhoods were starved of services and suffocated by planning restrictions.

Palestinians make up over a third of Jerusalem’s population but receive only a fraction of the city’s budget, and are largely confined to overcrowded, under-serviced areas.

This structural discrimination has gone hand-in-hand with aggressive policies of erasure. Entire communities have been destroyed to remake Jerusalem’s landscape. The Moroccan Quarter in the Old City was demolished just days after Israel annexed the area, displacing more than 100 Palestinian families to create space for the Western Wall Plaza.

Since then, thousands of Palestinian homes in East Jerusalem have been demolished – sometimes under the pretext of lacking building permits, which are almost impossible for Palestinians to obtain. Sacred spaces have not been spared either: cemeteries have been bulldozed, and archaeological digs have been weaponised to advance settler narratives and displace communities.

Life in Jerusalem

Palestinian life in Jerusalem is also marked by fragmentation. A Palestinian from East Jerusalem who marries someone from the West Bank cannot live legally with their spouse in the city, due to Israel’s discriminatory Entry into Israel Law. Entire families are torn apart.

Movement is another daily hardship. Palestinians from the West Bank need permits to access Jerusalem, and even those who live in the city face surveillance and arbitrary restrictions. Travel to other parts of the occupied Palestinian territories is tightly controlled, making basic acts like visiting relatives or accessing hospitals deeply uncertain.

Meanwhile, settler organisations backed by Israeli courts and government agencies have steadily expanded their grip on the city. In Sheikh Jarrah and Silwan, Palestinian families are facing eviction so that settlers can take their homes, often under legal pretexts that allow non-Arab Israelis to reclaim pre-1948 properties, while denying Palestinians the same right. The result is a slow, systematic expulsion.

At Al Aqsa Mosque, the heart of Palestinian religious life, Israel imposes frequent restrictions on Palestinian worshippers while settler groups are escorted into the compound under military protection. These incursions are deeply provocative, sparking tension and often violence. For many Palestinians, it is a daily reminder that their rights in their own city are neither protected nor respected.

Today, more than 370,000 Palestinians live in Jerusalem, many under threat of eviction, demolition, or the loss of their residency. Their neighbourhoods remain underdeveloped, their political status remains insecure, and their future remains under siege.

The annexation of Jerusalem has not just deepened the occupation; it has made a future Palestinian state nearly impossible. Without East Jerusalem as its capital, a sovereign Palestinian state cannot exist. That is the hard truth many governments choose to ignore.

To build a just and lasting peace, the international community must reckon with the reality of annexation and the apartheid regime it has enabled. Justice in Palestine begins with justice in Jerusalem.

Learn more about life in Jerusalem for Palestinians in this article by B’tselem.