76 Israeli Land Grab and Forced Population Transfer of Palestinians The question of land use and access is very broad in East Jerusalem. It includes the important issue of around 55,000 Palestinian residents of East Jerusalem who are physically separated from the urban center by the Israeli Annexation Wall (residing on the “other” side of the Wall) and who, “must cross crowded checkpoints to access health, education and other services to which they are entitled as residents of Jerusalem”.271 Nevertheless, in this section the focus will lie on the issue of national parks and natural sites in Jerusalem since it is the most important subject concerning denial of land use and access within East Jerusalem itself. National Parks, Nature Reserves, National Sites, Memorial Sites In East Jerusalem there are eight existing or planned nature reserves totaling about 35 percent of East Jerusalem.272 A major tool for designating lands for ‘public purposes’ is by allocating ‘national parks’. The allocation of national parks is permitted under 271 OCHA, East Jerusalem: Key Humanitarian Concerns (December 2012); available from http://www. ochaopt.org/documents/ocha_opt_Jerusalem_FactSheet_December_2012_english.pdf; accessed 24 April 2014. 272 Allison Deger, ‘National Park Land-grabs from Two East Jerusalem Neighbourhoods’, MONDOWEISS, January 6, 2012; available from http://mondoweiss.net/2012/01/national-park-land-grabs-from-twoeast-jerusalem-neighborhoods.html; accessed 24 April 2013. Blue Print of Road No. 50 in Beit Safafa, East-Jerusalem from September 2012.