A/HRC/8/18 page 12 permanent residents of Israel. Holders of West Bank and Gaza resident identity cards require a permit to enter Jerusalem. The permits indicate the length of stay, the duration of the permit and, in many cases, specify the checkpoint through which the bearer is permitted to cross. Since 2000, these permits have become increasingly difficult to obtain. It is further estimated that some 50,000 Palestinians do not hold any identification at all.29 They are therefore regarded by the Israeli authorities as illegally staying in the Occupied Palestinian Territory and consequently are not authorized to visit holy places in the Territory or abroad. 31. The West Bank and Gaza identity cards indicate whether the cardholder is Muslim or Christian, with no possible alternatives. The identity cards of those who are not believers, for example, indicate that they have the same religion as their parents; in contrast, cards of Jerusalem residents and Israeli citizens do not contain information about religion. Following her visit to Israel and the Occupied Palestinian Territory in January 2008, the Special Rapporteur on freedom of religion or belief stated that, in her opinion, “to indicate the religious affiliation on official identity cards carries a serious risk of abuse, which has to be weighed against the possible reasons for disclosing the holder’s religion”.30 Consequences of the closure regime for access to religious sites, notably in Hebron and Nablus 32. The above-mentioned closure regime created a serious impediment to travel for Palestinians, and consequently denied the majority of inhabitants of all religions of the Occupied Palestinian Territory access to many places of worship. The difficulties facing Palestinians in their attempt to have access to religious sites in the Occupied Palestinian Territory were of a particularly severe nature in the cities of Hebron and Nablus during the reporting period. 33. Hebron, the second largest city in the West Bank, is the location of the Ibrahimi mosque/Tomb of the Patriarchs - considered to be the burial place of Abraham/Ibrahim, Isaac, and Jacob and their wives Sarah, Rebecca and Leah - and is of great significance for many Muslims, Jews and Christians. 34. Since 1967, more than 24 Israeli settlements have been established in the Hebron governorate, creating a ring around its urban centre and fragmenting the outlying lands. Between 1979 and 1983, Israeli settlers established four settlements inside the Old City of 29 In terms of the reasons for the situation, some have had their IDs revoked by Israeli authorities; others have been refused family reunification applications since 2000, with the exception of a few thousand that have been issued in the last couple of years (OCHA, East Jerusalem, January 2008, p. 23). 30 http://www.unhchr.ch/huricane/huricane.nsf/view01/7581E47DA4564001C12573DE0038E551? opendocument.