***image2***On Monday, November 29, 2004, at 2:30 pm, Occupation Forcesâ military vehicles and bulldozers demolished three homes in the southwest section of the village of Anata, located northeast of Jerusalem. The house demolitions made 25 people homeless. At the same time, the Occupation Forces destroyed 25 Bedouin homes, together with their livestock shelters, in the southeast part of the village.
Occupation Forces had issued demolition orders two days prior to the demolitions. They had also issued expropriation orders to the residents in 1998, when the Bedouin were living on lands under the control of the Occupationâs municipalityâland which now contains the âAnatotâ military base. Thus, the Bedouin were forcefully dispersed to the Nijmeh area, southeast of Anata village. Occupation Forces then forced them out of Nijmeh once again in the same year, so they settled in the area where they now live, called Wi’r al-Beyk. This time, however, the Bedouin refused to comply with the orders of the same Occupation Forces that have forced them to continually move time after time, dating back to 1948, when they were originally living in Bir Sabaâ and were displaced during the 1948 Occupation.
The current demolitions and destruction of their homes took place under the pretense that the owners of the houses were denied building permits. But the real reason behind the demolitions is the construction of the Apartheid Wall in this area of the village, which would have isolated these homes from the rest of the town. If they remained, these homes would thus have been annexed together with the land behind the Wall â a prospect that does not appeal to the Occupation, which would rather confiscate the land without its residents.
The village of Anata is located northeast of Jerusalem, and has about 29,000 residents. It includes the neighborhood of Dahiyat Assalam, which has over 12,000 residents. According to the Occupation Municipality, and to the Oslo Accords, Anata is part of the West Bank, but its neighborhood of Dahiyat Assalam is part of Jerusalem. But nevertheless, Dahiyat Assalam is part of Anata; no border exists between the two. Dahiyat Assalam residents use the Anata Village Council services, and send their children to Anata’s schools.
Although Anata is part of Jerusalem, just east of the city, Occupation Forces have divided it from Jerusalem, and have refused to issue building permits to its residents. Thus, the residents suffer from continuous demolitions and destruction. On April 21, 2004, Occupation Forces demolished five houses and issued further expropriation and demolition orders for other residential and commercial buildings. Commercial operations suffer continuously from the Occupation’s system of closure and fragmentation, which will grow even worse when the path of the Apartheid Wall completely seals off Anata from Jerusalem and isolates it from nearby residential areas and villages.
When it is completed, the Wall will pass barely 20 meters from some homes in south and southeast Anata. Meanwhile, settlements of the Occupation stand on confiscated village lands, as does a recently constructed military base, southwest of the village.
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