The wall cuts off Palestinians from their work places, schools and social services

Additional Reporting By Suleiman Besharat, IOL Correspondent

GAZA CITY, March 20 (IslamOnline.net & News Agencies) – Palestinians have started returning in groves to their native old town Al-Quds (occupied Jerusalem), leaving behind their homes in nearby towns to avert Israeli bids to obliterate the city’s identity by its Wes Bank separation wall, now under construction.

“The return helps protect the identity of Al-Quds,” the dean of the law faculty in Al-Quds University, professor Moussa Al-Doweik, told IslamOnline.net Friday, March 19.

“They fear that they would not be allowed into the city in the future,” after the completion of the 700km-long wall, he added.

He said the returnees will redress the “demographic imbalance” as one of the repercussions of the wall “which is part of Israeli plots to trigger a Palestinian exodus by demolishing houses and denying the Palestinians their right to own property”.

Bashir Abd Rabah, 49, said he left his home in the village of Al-Aziriya for Al-Quds.

“I spent all my savings and got loans from Israeli banks to buy a house in Al-Quds,” he said.

“I left my house in Al-Airiya to help protect the identity of Al-Quds. I moved with my five-member family to Al-Thawri district in a tiny apartment because I can’t afford the rent of a big one.”

Al-Quds center for research Friday put at 300 the number of aboriginal Palestinians who return to the old town on a weekly basis.

Reports said that some 210,000 Palestinians living in the area between the separation wall and Israel would be cut off from social services, schools and places of work.

If Israeli authorities withdrew permanent residences from the Palestinians of Al-Quds, they would lose their right to live in the city once and for all.

Difficulties

But the natives are facing a host of obstacles, which make life difficult for them.

Sky-rocketing apartment prices are high on the list with the rent of a two-room flat running at between 500 and $700.

Owning an unequipped and unauthorized apartment, yet, is something of an extravagance when one speaks about $120,000 for a meager 120 square meters.

“The mind-boggling housing prices is a direct result of a %60 decrease in the prices of houses in near by villages outside the wall’s route,” Jamal Al-Natcha, an apartment broker, told Agence France-Presse (AFP).

“What makes matters worse is the shortage of apartment blocks in Al-Quds, since Israel over the past years annexed most of the city and constructed a pelt of settlements for Jews,” he added.

“Add to that, the disproportionate percentage between the increasing number of Palestinian natives of Al-Quds and the construction licenses issued by Israeli authorities due to the unfair Israeli laws.”

According to Palestinian statistics, Israel demolished earlier last year some 35 houses to force the Palestinians flee their native city compared to 41 houses in 2002.

Israel began work on a 42-kilometer (25-mile) section of its controversial separation wall last February, prompting daily Palestinian protests and clashes with occupation soldiers.

The Palestinians argue the wall is intended to entrench the Israeli occupation of the West Bank and preset the boundaries of a future Palestinian state.

Condemning the wall, a U.N. report said it would lead to severe humanitarian consequences for more than 680,000 Palestinians.