Israel announces new land seizure near Bethlehem
Residents of Wadi An-Nis and Beit Ummar, locals said, could produce ownership documents for at least 400 dunums of the land.
According to an announcement made in the Arabic papers, “agricultural land will be used for an educational institution according to article 20/24 of construction law number 79 of the year 1966.”
The announcement gave residents 60 days to contest the seizure in Israeli court.
Beit Ummar resident Mahmoud Awwad said his family owned 400 dunums near the site identified in the newspaper, and said he was told that the land would be used to build a school for Ultra-Orthodox Jewish students.
Awwad said he believed the other 200 dunums belonged to the Ikhleil and Sabarna families. His own family, he said, had been working the land near Wadi An-Nis for more than 200 years.
Ownership certificates for the land, he explained, were registered in the Ottoman, British Mandate and Jordanian eras of rule over the area.
Representatives from the Civil Administration did not answer calls for comment.
Feb. 1, 2011