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Settlement planners claimed the expropriated land was uncultivated, so Palestinians weren't harmed. According to architect Tommy Leitersdorf, who prepared the first Ma'ale Adummim plan:
"The state inherited it from Jordan....These were state lands, state land proper. So, there was also a consensus (that) we didn't take it from anybody."
Israel's Civil Commission said:
"In those years (1975 - 77), there was no procedure for declaring state land, so, due to the doubt, land was expropriated even though the land concerned was unregistered and not cultivated."
Ignored was that local law stipulated that "uncultivated" land could be owned by individuals. In villages under Jordanian rule, many such areas were registered to Palestinians, not the state.
After their land was seized, dozens of Palestinians filed compensation claims with the Jordanian government that concluded that 78% of the expropriated land was privately owned.
Israel illegally designated the Ma'ale Adummim area arid, abandoned, and uncultivated even though it earlier was declared a closed military zone, off-limits to cultivation, and the Ministry of Construction and Housing said it's:
"in the Mediterranean flora area (where) the wadis (valleys) are being cultivated....East of this area, on land that can still be cultivated in rainy years, cultivation is done in accord with the Masha (collective) ownership method....The more arid land is used for communal grazing...."
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