The lands in Um El Amad, Artas and Silwa facing expropriation ›

A caterpillar bulldozer works in front of a tunnel that will connect the house of the Hajajleh family to the rest of the village once the Wall will be completed, Al Walaja, Tuesday, March 13, 2012. The house of this family will become isolated and will have its own fence all around it. Photo by: Anne Paq/Activestills.org. cc: flickr

What is the connection between the lands in Um El Amad, Artas and Silwan: all three are facing expropriation. But, in our daily activity we fight against powers that are willing to commit crimes in order to obtain Palestinian land. Read about a field testimony from Um El Amad lands, an article in “Haaretz” on our legal activity in Artas and the mutual fight against the building of a National Park in East Jerusalem. 

The following video was filmed last Saturday on Un El Amad lands, a few days after and in the same place where two Palestinian boys aged 16 and 18 years old were arrested while herding their sheep. They were taken to Otniel settlement and according to them, they were bitten by soldiers while being handcuffed. A few hours later, after interrogation and a lawyer’s intervention they were released. This video documents the every day ritual of eviction and preventing access of Palestinians to their lands.

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“Last years’ Jews, who claim that, in a real estate transaction with God they received a property bill and they are not satisfied with what they received from the discriminating authorities.  They take over Palestinian land, plant their seedlings, water it, and called it a salvation of “State lands”. In updated Hebrew it means “land for Jews only” (if someone who put a tent in Rothschild blv. Please look up in the encyclopedia “South Africa”). An article against invasion of settlers to innocent Palestinian’s lands in “Haaretz”.

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Ideological Use of the City of David National Park in Silwan:
On October 26, 2011, the Israeli Supreme Court is due to hear the petition (#5031/10 filed June 23, 2010) of Ir Amim and a number of noted archaeologists against the Israel Nature and Parks Authority, (INPA), the Minister of Environment and the Municipality of Jerusalem, among others. The petition challenges the privatization of the City of David National Park and the transfer of its administration to a private political organization – an apparently illegal measure.

In advance of this hearing, and apparently in an effort to render it irrelevant, the ministerial committee for legislation adopted a draft bill, allowing the sweeping privatization of all of the national parks and their transfer to private organizations. The draft law
passed a preliminary reading in the Knesset by a large majority on July 27 – just days before the summer break.