The state-figures were made public in the Israeli newspaper Haaretz on Wednesday. The total was 21 times higher than the average of the previous 40 years.
In the first 40 years of Israeli occupation Israel revoked residency rights of 8,558. More than double that number lost their ID cards in 2008 alone.
The Interior Ministry told Haaretz that the increase stemmed from a 2008 decision by the previous Israeli government to investigate the legal status of thousands of Palestinians in East Jerusalem.
The 250,000 Palestinians with Israeli-issued East Jerusalem identity cards have the same legal status as people who immigrated to Israel legally, but are not entitled to citizenship, Attorney Yotam Ben-Hillel of Hamoked: Center for the Defense of the Individual said.
"They are treated as if they were immigrants to Israel, despite the fact that it is Israel that came to them in 1967," Haaretz quoted him as saying.
Israel occupied East Jerusalem along with the rest of the West Bank in 1967, and annexed a chunk of the West Bank as a part of what was then declared Jerusalem, the capital of Israel. Palestinians in the annexed territory refused Israeli citizenship. Like the international community, they do not recognize the legitimacy of Israeli control over the area.
Jerusalemite lawyer Usama Al-Halabi said in a recent interview with Ma’an that “every Palestinian with Israeli identity has no real rights to life in Jerusalem. Israel can confiscate the identity at any time.”
Because of their status as non-citizen residents, Palestinians in Jerusalem can easily lose their ID cards. According to lawyers who spoke to Ma’an, simply leaving for five years, or obtaining residency or citizenship in another country can endanger a Jerusalem resident’s rights.