ABU DIS, West Bank: Since graduating from a local medical school nine years ago, Basel Nassar has been barred from serving his community in East Jerusalem, despite a shortage of doctors there.

Like dozens of other Palestinian doctors, Nassar has been caught in the political battle between Israel and the Palestinians over East Jerusalem. Israel captured and annexed the traditionally Arab sector in 1967, a step not recognized by most of the world, while the Palestinians seek it as a capital.

Palestinians long have held that Israels attempt to impose its sovereignty over East Jerusalem, which is the emotional core of the Middle East conflict and home to major religious shrines, has violated basic rights and disrupted the lives of many of the citys Arab residents.

Yet Israels policy of banning dozens of Jerusalem residents from working as doctors in the city is increasingly being criticized by Israelis, including leading physicians who say politics must not trump the right to health care.

Earlier this month, an Israeli court overturned the Health Ministrys ban after Nassar and others sued, ostensibly clearing the way for him and 54 other doctors to apply for Israeli medical licenses. But it is unclear if the government has dropped the legal battle.

Critics say the issue is rooted in politics, not medical standards.

Many of the doctors have passed medical examination tests elsewhere, including the U.S. and Western Europe. But since all graduated from Al-Quds, a university with a foothold in East Jerusalem, Israeli recognition of their degrees could be seen as acknowledgment of Palestinian claims to the territory.

The Health Ministry applied a similar ruling several years ago to a small group of graduates on a one-off basis. It has not ruled out appealing the latest court decision.

Nassar, 34, had planned to emigrate to the U.S. because he could no longer support his family on a monthly salary of $1,300 at a West Bank clinic. He could earn about triple at Israeli hospitals. Following the court decision, he says he will stay to train as a cardiologist in Israel and then work in East Jerusalem, where heart specialists are scarce.

Eventually its a simple equation, he said. People in need. Good physicians and qualified physicians. These shall serve these.

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Palestinian doctors barred from working in Jerusalem