For months, police have been giving the Jerusalem municipality lists of hundreds of Palestinian residents suspected of security offenses, the goal being for the city to penalize them beyond whatever criminal proceedings police can initiate. Municipal employees investigate the suspects and their relatives to see whether it’s possible, for instance, to demolish an illegally built house, collect unpaid municipal taxes or close an unlicensed business.

Altogether, the lists show, the municipality has carried out hundreds of enforcement activities against the people on them.

The lists, which Haaretz has obtained, include hundreds of East Jerusalem residents, some of whom appear on more than one list. Most are Palestinians who were arrested on suspicion of participating in riots in the city since last July; others are considered local leaders.

Palestinian residents of East Jerusalem have complained for some time now that if any member of the family is arrested for rioting, other government agencies, including the municipality, the Interior Ministry and the National Insurance Institute, begin hounding the family – for instance, by demanding payment of debts. Jerusalem Mayor Nir Barkat has spoken repeatedly in favor of tougher measures against East Jerusalem residents in response to the wave of violence that erupted last summer in response to the murder of teenager Mohammed Abu Khdeir and the war with Hamas in Gaza.

Until now, however, there has been no proof of selective enforcement against people suspected of security offenses.

Legal experts said this constitutes abuse of the city’s powers, because laws are supposed to be enforced according to uniform criteria based on the public interest.

One list, for instance, gives the names and identity numbers of each suspect, his father, his mother and his spouse, along with the coordinates of his house. The list also contains space for each municipal department to report the progress of enforcement measures against those named. For example, the local water company, Hagihon, must report whether a family on the list owes it any money, the building supervision department must report on the house’s legal status (most East Jerusalem houses are built without permits), and the tax department must report whether any municipal tax is owed.

Other sections detail outstanding arrest warrants, debt collection proceedings or liens against those on the list.

In some cases, the lists show that debts were indeed collected, liens imposed or legal proceedings begun. In the case of H.A. from the Sur Baher neighborhood, for instance, the list reports “3,000 [shekels] collected from the family” and the homeowner summoned for questioning about illegal construction.

Palestinian activists who examined the lists identified many of the names as people arrested during riots, some of them minors. In recent months, about 1,000 suspects have been arrested, though few have yet been convicted.

But the lists also include well-known local leaders like Adnan Ghaith, secretary of the East Jerusalem chapter of the Palestinian Fatah party, along with his five brothers.

The municipality didn’t deny the practices described in this report, but said it didn’t understand what Haaretz was accusing it of. The city is legally obligated to enforce building laws, collect back taxes and so forth, it said, and all these activities are carried out in a legal manner.

Moreover, the city added, many East Jerusalem residents complain to the city about lack of enforcement, “which encourages criminals to take over private and public areas and make life miserable for neighborhood residents, and enforcement operations are welcomed by the public.”