ABSTRACT
This chapter reviews the law relating to citizenship and the related question of population registration; the following one reviews the law relating to control of land. It focuses on the legal implications of the connection between the Law of Return and the Nationality Law for the respective rights of Jewish and Arab residents of Israel. All Jewish residents of the state acquired Israeli citizenship automatically by way of return; Arab residents acquired citizenship only if the conditions for acquiring citizenship through residence applied. In the early years of the state the borders of Israel, especially the one with Jordan which occupied the West Bank, were far from secure, and people managed to cross from one side to the other without going through the official entry posts. The amendments to the Nationality Law have alleviated the situation created under the original version under which a considerable number of Arab residents of Israel were not entitled to Israeli citizenship.
