An international human rights group has urged Israel to lift what it says are arbitrary restrictions on Palestinian residency in the West Bank and Gaza. The New York-based group Human Rights Watch said in a 90-page report Sunday that such restrictions have denied thousands of Palestinians living outside the territories the ability to live in them, or to travel to and from them. “Israel's control over the population registry has significantly reduced the registered Palestinian population in the West Bank and Gaza, probably by hundreds of thousands of people,” the New York-based HRW said in a 90-page report. It said that only residents acknowledged by Israel are able to acquire a Palestinian ID card, which is essential for internal travel though Israeli roadblocks and is also a prerequisite for obtaining a Palestinian passport. “The way Israel's military has exercised its control over the Palestinian population registry... has separated families, caused people to lose jobs and educational opportunities, barred people from entering the Palestinian territories, and trapped others inside them, HRW said. The Palestinians want to establish a state in the West Bank, Gaza and East Jerusalem. Since capturing these areas in the 1967 Mideast war, Israel has maintained final say over who is a legal resident there.
