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Jewish men look towards the Temple Mount, Wednesday. (AP)
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| By Israel Insider staff and partners April 27, 2006 |
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Israeli police have agreed to transfer control of a lot in an Arab neighborhood of east Jerusalem to a group of Orthodox Jews, officials said Wednesday.
Palestinians have appealed to Israel's Supreme Court to stop the police from transferring the land in the Ras el-Amud neighborhood to the Bukharian Jewish community. The Palestinians believe that their efforts to set up the capital of a future state in east Jerusalem will be hampered.
The court heard the case Wednesday and was to issue a ruling at a later date.
Israeli police are to close the police station in Ras el-Amud and move it outside Jerusalem, not far from Maaleh Adumim, 'Jerusalem's satellite city'.
In return for receiving the east Jerusalem property, the Bukharian community has agreed to build the new police station, according to agreements signed between the sides, obtained by The Associated Press.
A spokesman for the police confirmed the agreements with the Bukharians, saying they were based on Bukharian claims dating back decades to the Ras el-Amud property. The community had owned the east Jerusalem land before Jordan took control of the area in the 1948 war, said Yehuda Maman, spokesman for the Internal Security Ministry.
Israeli settlers have moved into several properties in the neighborhood, which overlooks the walls of the Old city of Jerusalem.
The deal between the state and a private organization was unusual, said a watchdog group, Ir Amim, which petitioned the court with the Palestinians. It said it had information that the Bukharian community planned to transfer the Ras el-Amud land to the settler group Ateret Cohanim.
"This transfer of the land to the Bukharians is blatantly illegal," said Danny Seidemann, director of Ir Amim. "Thirty-five percent of the land of Jerusalem was expropriated from the Palestinians, and they don't even have land in east Jerusalem to build schools on."
Palestinians say the Maaleh Adumim police station is meant to serve as an Israeli foothold in the area to block free access to Jerusalem for Palestinians.
Israel plans to connect Jerusalem with Maaleh Adumim by building 3,500 housing units in the desert area but has put the construction off because of strong opposition from the United States.
AP contributed to this report.
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