According to the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child, which was ratified by Israel in 1991, a child has the right to be registered directly after birth and is entitled to health care as well as education.

New born children of couples, where both spouses hold the permanent residency, usually receive their ID number directly at the hospital. The child is afterwards automatically registered in the population registry in Israel. After this first registration the parents apply within fourteen days at the Ministry of Interior to record the new born child in their identity cards. Here is to mention that in the recent past more and more cases came up, where also parents who have both the Jerusalem IDs face problems to register their children.

If the new born child of a mixed couple (spouses with permanent residency from Israel married to someone with a West Bank or foreign ID) is born in Jerusalem, it doesn’t get automatically an ID-number. The parents have to apply for child registration at the Ministry of the Interior, proving that they actually reside in Israel. If the parents cannot prove that they have been resident for the previous two years, their application will be rejected. They will be able to re-apply upon proving two years of continuous residency. Hence, these children have no access to healthcare or education as long as the child registration process has not ended.