AL QUDS: Palestinian Mahmoud Shehada is preoccupied with one fear: a night-time knock on the door by Israeli soldiers who demand that he leave his home and never return. Israel says that part of Walaja, a village of terraced olive groves where Shehada and his neighbours have lived for more than five decades is in Jerusalem - annexed in a move that is not recognized internationally after the 1967 war.

But the villagers of Walaja hold West Bank identity cards that give them no right to enter the country which lays claim to the land where they live. "The soldiers said they can come at any time and expel us. There is no security," said 60-year-old Shehada. "Any sound I have to get up and investigate.

"It will happen. If they tell me my house isn't legal and my presence isn't legal, then of course it will happen." Palestinians and human rights activists say that as Israel prepares to withdraw from the Gaza Strip as part of a plan to "disengage" from Palestinians, it is also trying to exert tighter control on Palestinian access to Arab East Jerusalem.

Residents say Israeli border police have raided Walaja three times this year, arresting 20 men from their beds.

SEARCHES: Police also went house to house telling villagers that their presence was unlawful and asking them to sign legal documents. The residents, advised by their lawyer, refused.