On Monday Israeli authorites began to construct the Annexation Wall in Ras Khamees neighborhood, in Shu’fat refugee camp near Jerusalem despite a court ruling opposing the closure of the area unless residents are provided with right of way.
Elan Franco, head of the Israeli Police in Jerusalem, claimed that the Tel Aviv suicide bomber managed to enter Israel through Ras Khamees area.
Soldiers placed huge concrete blocks in front of a military roadblock which is surrounded by a four-meter barbed wire in the north of the area. After the work is concluded, the concrete blocks will extend to 200 to 300 meters.
Representatives of the Local Council in Shu’fat and their lawyer, Dani Zeidman, filed an appeal at the Israeli High Court of Justice, in response to the appeal, made by Amitai Levi, who is charge of wall construction in the Jerusalem area. Alon Yifrah, the legal counselor of the Israeli Defense Ministry, visited the area along with Sa’id Sabary, who is in charge of the file of the annexed lands, in order to study the necessary changes to the Wall’s route.
An engineer representing Israel proposed two maps for the temporal and final crossings through the Wall. He explained that the current crossing will be modified after four months, while the final crossing will be similar to the Qalandia Crossing, north of Jerusalem.
The suggested final crossing will include five lanes for vehicles, with one for emergency, and four lanes for the residents, and two rest stops ; one before the crossing and one after it.
Lawyer Zeidman rejected any negotiations on the route of the Wall and crossing, demanding that the Israeli side stop the work and remove the blocks as they are illegally situated on Palestinian property.
Zeidman gave the Israelis a period of three days before heading to the Israeli High Court of Justice, but the army had already started erecting the concrete blocks from Za’im neighborhood up to the entrance of the camp.
