With the annexation of East Jerusalem in 1967, Israel made an outrageous decision: to completely annex the land but not the people living on it. Thus, an apartheid-like situation was created, in which 40 percent of the population in Israel’s capital city are not citizens of this country. The excuse employed by decision makers at the time was that the Palestinians themselves do not want full Israeli citizenship, and that they can obtain it if they wish to do so. But when the Palestinians despaired of the diplomatic peace-seeking process and sought citizenship, Israel held back from granting it.