Israeli-drawn line keeps Arab families apart: A village is split in two and cousins cannot visit each other as a result of curbs on West Bank Palestinians

MOHAMMED SHILA lives in the village of Anata on the edge of Jerusalem. So does his cousin Suheil Rifai. But, under Israeli law, Mohammed cannot visit Suheil because of a line on a map. Mohammed is classified by Israel as a 'West Bank Palestinian' and is given the orange identification card of the occupied people. Suheil is a 'Jerusalem Palestinian' and carries a higher-class, blue, Israeli ID card.

Anata has been divided in two since the 1967 Arab-Israeli war when Israel seized the West Bank and east Jerusalem. One of the first acts of the victors was to extend the municipal boundaries of the captured Arab sector of the city - where 70,000 Arabs lived - and then to annex expanded east Jerusalem to Jewish west Jerusalem, and thereby to Israel.

The new municipal line was drawn with a hurried stroke of the pen. The result was that some Arab villages on the edge of the city were included inside the boundary and some were left outside on the West Bank. Others, like Anata, 5km from the city centre, were haphazardly carved in two.

Until 31 March this year the Palestinians of Anata and neighbouring villages were able to live with the arbitrary division. All the villagers - those with blue and orange IDs - continued to look to Jerusalem as their de facto capital, travelling there to pray, to shop and to work.

But seven weeks ago, Israel decided to 'close off' the West Bank and Gaza from Israel-proper. At the same time the decision was taken to close off the West Bank from annexed Arab east Jerusalem. The 1967 line through Anata and around, therefore, was suddenly marked out by checkpoints and barriers. The village municipal boundary has been turned into a military cordon and only those with Jerusalem identity cards may pass.

For Mohammed Shila and others with West Bank ID, there is now only one road out of Anata, to the east and into the West Bank. Jerusalem has become a no-go zone for them. But Suheil continues to travel to Jerusalem every day, waved on approvingly by the Israeli border guards.

Nowhere are the contradictions of Israel's new 'closure' policy more evident than in Anata. And nowhere is it more clear that Israel's attempt to 'sever' Jews from Arabs cannot work.

The decision to close off the occupied territories, to curb entry by Palestinians, followed a rise in attacks by Palestinians on Israelis since the start of the year. Seven weeks on it has proved possible to keep Palestinians out of Israel by enforcing strict checks. But Jerusalem defies such division. 'The populations are inextricably mixed here. There is no such thing as a clean break. Israel must realise it is a wishful dream,' says Moshe Amirav, a liberal Jerusalem city councillor.

If Israel suddenly viewed Palestinians as such a security threat it should have cordoned off not only the Arabs of West Bank and Gaza, but the Arabs of east Jerusalem too. But to do this would have been to weaken Israel's claim to the whole of the city, setting a dangerous precedent in the peace negotiations where Israel is claiming sovereignty over all Jerusalem.

It is being called the 'siege of Jerusalem'. Palestinian teachers and pupils have been unable to go to their schools and the ill have been barred from Jerusalem hospitals. Trade has been devastated. In the Old City the markets are quiet: West Bankers cannot come to shop. 'The decision to close off the West Bank but not Arab east Jerusalem shows there are now three classes of Palestinians in Israeli eyes,' says Mr Amirav. 'First there are the Israeli Arabs who live in Israel. Second, there are Jerusalem Arabs who live in Jerusalem. And third are the West Bank and Gaza Arabs who are all potential terrorists and must be kept out.'

So-called West Bank villagers in Anata now sit in their homes or shops, imprisoned. 'We cannot even go to the village bakery without risking arrest,' says Mr Shila. 'It is over the Jerusalem boundary.' Merchants without Jerusalem ID now have to take the long winding road out to the east. A vegetable cart draws up from the West Bank city of Nablus. The driver says it took him two hours longer to reach Anata because he could not travel on 'Jerusalem' land.

The worst effect of the closure is economic. Mohammed Shila used to work on a construction site in west Jerusalem. 'I applied for a special permit to go back but was refused,' he says. 'Why should they think I am any more of a risk to anyone than my cousin? It doesn't make sense.'

As the closure has lengthened there are signs that the Israeli authorities realise the severance of Jerusalem cannot work. More and more special permits are being given to Arabs from villages like Anata to enter Jerusalem, to go to schools and hospitals.

But there is little sign that Israel will ever relent and give Mohammed and his cousin the same identity. Mohammed's blue card says: 'Born in Anata', while Suheil's says: 'Born in Jerusalem, Israel'.

(Photograph omitted)