Anata

Basic Information

Type: Town
Governorate: Jerusalem
Region: Jerusalem

Overview

Anata is a Palestinian town of immense historical and religious significance, identified with biblical Anathoth — the hometown of the Prophet Jeremiah, one of the most important figures in the Hebrew Bible and Christian Old Testament. Located 4 km northeast of Jerusalem's Old City, the town has a total land area of 30,603 dunams (approximately 30.6 km²), making it one of the largest Palestinian land areas within the expanded Jerusalem municipality. However, the vast majority of this land is not available for Palestinian use: over half has been incorporated into the Israeli-defined Jerusalem municipal boundary under restrictive zoning, while large portions have been confiscated for the Pisgat Ze'ev and Neve Yaakov settlements. Together with the adjacent Shuafat Refugee Camp, Anata is almost completely surrounded by the Israeli separation wall — a physical encirclement that has transformed a historic town into a ghetto. The biblical connection (Anathoth as Jeremiah's hometown) gives Anata unique resonance: a town named in the Book of Jeremiah now faces prophetic-scale dispossession under occupation.

Historical Significance

Biblical Anathoth, home of the prophet Jeremiah. Saladin established his administration here before the 1187 siege of Jerusalem against the Crusaders.

Sources and record limitations

Source detail varies by record. Some entries include document and page references; others supply source names only. Check the cited material and the record's limitations before relying on a specific claim.

Ir Amim
B'Tselem
UN OCHA
ARIJ
PCBS
BADIL Resource Center

Biblical Anathoth