Land Ownership
Peace Now, an Israeli NGO, initially claimed that 86.4% of Ma'ale Adumim was privately owned Palestinian land, basing the figure on data leaked from a government report. After Peace Now petitioned the Israeli courts to have the official data released, the group revised the figure to 32.4%. Palestinians claim lands from the villages of Abu Dis, al-Eizariya, Al-Issawiya, At-Tur and 'Anata were expropriated for building in Ma'aleh Adumim. Under Islamic land law, the land in question was categorized as arazi mewat, or "dead lands." The 1858 Ottoman Land Law defines it as "Khalz land which is not in the possession of anybody, and, not having been left or assigned to the inhabitants, is distant from town or village so that the loud voice of a person from the extreme inhabited spot cannot be heard, that is about a mile and a half to the extreme inhabited spot, or a distance of about half an hour."
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