Jerusalem Legal Aid and Human Right Center (Musaada) demanded the Legal
Counselor of the Israeli so-called Civil Administration Office in the
occupied West Bank, to cancel a decision that aims at annexing 1238
Dunams of farmlands that belong to residents of Anata town.
The center reported that the Israeli Military Commander did not inform the residents and the Anata local council of the annexation order, which did not give them a chance to appeal against it.
The office only posted the order at a wall in the District Coordination Office (DCO); 31 days later, the residents knew about the decision by chance when some of them headed to the DCO for paper work.
Musaada issued a press release slamming the Israeli procedures and the deception used by the military in order to annex the Palestinian lands.
Lawyer of the Musaada Center, Bassam Karaja, said that the center will follow the case at higher authorities in Israel in an attempt to cancel the order and its consequences on the lands.
Karaja added that if the appeals fail to void the military order, the center will file another appeal to the Israeli High Court of Justice.
“The annexation order is not about security, it is part of settlement expansion plans in the area”, Karaja stated, “They want to annex more Palestinian lands in order to expand settlements, and military camps”.
Karaja stated that this decision serves the expansion plan of Alon settlement which will also lead to the isolation of twenty-thousands of Dunams of farmlands.
He also said the the Israeli decision include annexing lands for the construction of a section of the Annexation Wall that will extend in the area to surround settlements and military camps.
Anata is already surrounded from the north by the Wall and Pisgot Zeev settlement, settlement road number 70, in addition to a military checkpoint at the entrance of Shu'fat refugee camp and the barbed-wires surrounding Al Z'ayyim area.
Karaja said that if the latest annexation decision is implemented, Anata town which is considered a main link between Jerusalem and the West Bank, will be totally isolated. Anata is inhibited by 18000 residents.
