The population of the Kafr Aqab neighborhood is estimated at 25,000. In 1967, upon annexation of East Jerusalem, the northern municipal boundary was drawn on the edge of Kafr Aqab which gave its inhabitants the status of residents of Jerusalem. Theyhave blue Israeli identity cards, pay municipal taxes to the Jerusalem Municipality, are entitled to the services of the Israeli National Insurance Institute and are allowed to travel and work anywhere in Israel. The neighborhood is 9 km north of the center of Jerusalem and 2 km south of Ramallah, near the Qalandia refugee camp and the Atarot industrial area.

Once the separation barrier was built in the Jerusalem area, the neighborhood of Kafr Aqab, Shuafat refugee camp, Dahiyat al-Barid and Ras Khamis, remained on the other side of the barrier and were "excluded" from city limits. Following construction of the separation barrier, the level of municipal services deteriorated. The Jerusalem Municipality does not attend to any problems in these neighborhoods, including infrastructure. Furthermore, the school children living in Kafr Aqab, who used to cross the street to their school, now have to stand in line at the most crowded checkpoint in the Jerusalem area, Qalandia. When there is a closure of the West Bank, the children's access to their school is denied. The separation of the village from Jerusalem disconnects its residents from vital medical services, places of employment, education and welfare services.

Currently the neighborhood is completely disconnected from basic services, resulting from the sovereignty vacuum that grew with the construction of the separation barrier. Two incidents in 2010 illustrate this. In one, militants attacked the school belonging to the Jerusalem Education Administration in Kafr Aqab. When the teachers called the Israel Police to ask for help, they were denied, because the Israel Police does not enter Kafr Aqab without escort. The second incident occurred in March 2010 when it rained heavily in the area, streets were flooded and some of the neighborhood's houses were cut off from the electric supply. In this case too, the municipality did not attend to the problem. It is important to note that the Palestinian Authority does not have the authority to operate in Kafr Aqab, because the area is defined as part of the municipal boundaries of Jerusalem. Thus the neighborhood has remained, like the neighborhoods on the Shuafat Ridge, unattended in terms of municipal services, from both the Israeli and Palestinian side.