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There are several areas of the West Bank that are referred to as no mans land (NML). These are found around the area of the Latrun Salient and in Jerusalem. NML is not a specific term under international law. The designation does not mean that the land belongs to no one. The NML is part of the West Bank. The NML like the rest of the West Bank was occupied by Israel in 1967. Since it was acquired by force, Israel cannot have a valid legal claim to the territory itself. There is some indication that Israel recognizes that it does not have sovereignty over the NML. For example, in the case State of Israel v. Eytan Kramer (CF Beit Shemesh) 1193/04 (2005), the magistrate court of Beit Shemesh finds that Israel does not have sovereignty over the NML. This is recognition by an arm of the state that the NML is not part of Israel proper. Israel has tried to argue that NML is terra nullius -- essentially making the claim that the NML was not under any sovereignty and up for grabs therefore Israel merely took possession of it after the 1967 war. This argument does not hold, most obviously because the land was inhabited by Palestinians. The village of Deir Ayyub and the Latrun monastery both are situated in the NML. The Israelis depopulated the village of Deir Ayyub in the 1948 war and the Franciscan monks of the Latrun monastery continue to live in and cultivate the area to this day.
In his memoirs of the 1967 war, Moshe Dayan wrote about the destruction of the Latrun villages and half of Qalqilya: [houses were destroyed] not in the battle, but as punishment and in order to chase away the inhabitants.
The villages:
Imwas: At the time that Israel occupied the West Bank in 1967, Imwas had around 2000 inhabitants, most of whom worked in the agriculture sector. The village had a school and religious shrines for Christians and Muslims. The village of Imwas alone owned some 55 000 dunums (approx. 13 600 acres) of agricultural land. During the Nakba of 1948, Zionist militias had attempted to occupy the village of Imwas several times, but were defeated. As a result of the truce-agreements2 signed at the time, Imwas lost some 50 000 dunums of its land. By 1967, Imwas had a mere 5,167 dunums of land. Yalo: The village of Yalo covered an area of 14 992 dunums (approx. 3700 acres), which were mainly used for agricultural purposes. When Israeli forces entered the village in 1967, Yalo had a population of around 1,700 inhabitants. Most of the villagers left for the Ramallah region and Jordan. Beit Nuba: By 1967, Nuba was a village comprising 12 890 dunums (approx. 3200 dunums) of land and had a population of around 1,500.Like Imwas and Yalo, most of the land was used for agricultural purposes. Beit Nuba was known by the Romans as Beth Annaba. About 90% of the people of Beit Nuba fled to Jordan and the remaining 10% fled to the neighboring villages of Beit Liqia, Beit Sira and Qataneh. Today there are a number of people from Beit Nuba living in Ramallah.
The Karama Neighborhood of Beit Liqia: In 1974, some of the people of Beit Nuba who were now living in surrounding villages received a few permits from the Israeli occupation authorities to build houses in the southern part of the neighboring village of Beit Liqia. Until today, the total number of permits issued is only 16. This area became known as the Karama neighborhood (residents refused to name the area new Beit Nuba as they remain convinced that one-day they will go back to their original
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village). The whole neighborhood lies in area C.3 Today there are about 320 people living in the neighborhood but the number is diminishing year after year, as Israel prevents the people from expanding or constructing extensions to the houses in which they live. When Israel began to build its Annexation Wall in the West Bank, land was seized from the Karama neighborhood as with many other Palestinian villages.. The Annexation Wall strangled the Karama neighborhood, completely separating the people from almost all of their agricultural land. In addition, half of the houses in the neighborhood received demolition orders from the Israeli military. Recently, the Israeli authorities also issued a demolition order to the monument built in the neighborhood for the legacy of the fallen Egyptian soldiers of the war in 1967. It is therefore not difficult for the people of Beit Nuba to remember how they used to live in their village before 1967. The place where they reside today is almost a stone s throw away from their destroyed village. In fact, what they can see from their homes today is an Israeli settlement called Mevo Horon built on top of their destroyed village and the its cemetery, which they are prohibited to visit or to maintain.
In accordance with the Oslo Interim Agreement signed between the PLO and Israel in 1993
Talmon
Surda
Beit El
Hashmonaim Shilat
Modi'in Illit
Bil'in Kafr Ni'ma
Dolev
'Ein Qiniya
Beitin
Deir Ibzi'
Saffa
Ramallah
'Ein 'Arik Beit 'Ur at Tahta Beituniya Al Bireh
Destroyed Villages
Psagot
Makkabim
Beit Sira
Kharbatha al Misbah
Al Am'ari Camp
Beit Horon
Rafat
Kafr 'Aqab
Kochav Yaacov
Beit Liqya
At Tira
443
Giva't Ze'ev
Qalandiya
Beit Nuba
3
Beit 'Anan
Atarot
Mevo Horon
Umm al Lahim Qatanna Al Qubeiba
Har Shmuel
Beit Hanina
Neve Ya'akov
20 4
Beit Iksa
Har Adar
Beit Surik
Ramot Allon
Ramat Shlomo
Pisgat Ze'ev
Shu'fat
W e s t
E a s t
OLD CITY
2.5
NAD-NSU
5 Km
Jerusalem
Al Q u d s
1967 Boundary (Green Line) Palestinian city, town or village Palestinian territory west/east of the Wall
1
Israeli settlement built-up area Planned settlement expansion Israeli settlement cultivation
Local Palestinian road Israeli Wall Israeli checkpoint Israeli settler bypass road
Khirbat El Buweiriya
Beit Nuba
Mevo Horon
Yalu EL Khalayil
Latrun Monastery
'Imwas Latrun
3
Neve Shalom
Deir Aiyub
0 0.75 2 Km