A Palestinian living in the Hebron region was passing through his land on the 11th of August, 2007, when 5 soldiers ordered him to stop. The soldiers told the Palestinian that it was not his land, however when he asked for papers to prove the soldiers’ claim, he was arrested and taken to a military base in Tel Rumeida. There he was detained for 15 minutes, and subsequently released to return to his land.
15.08.2007
This morning at 7AM human rights workers rushed to the other side of Nablus in Ta’awun Street where 8 homes had been taken over by the Israeli army. They joined the medical assistance relief team that had already arrived at the scene. 10-15 military vehicles and a bulldozer were in the street. In this case the families were told to leave their homes at 2AM. People were roused from their beds, among them small children including a 2 1/2 month old baby, and were forced to leave their homes, which were then occupied. One of the occupied houses was used for interrogation purposes – people were taken from the surrounding homes and brought there for questioning. There were a lot of holes in the homes, shattered glass and destroyed rooms, crying women and children and many projectiles that were fired as well – 2 of them Israeli and one of them, the largest, referred to as an energy bomb, was made in the USA. Maher Awada, aged 19 and Omar Ma’alla, aged 20, who were arrested, are purported to be wanted by the Israeli army. Forcing families from their homes as the Israeli army did is a form of collective punishment and is illegal under international law. For some of the families, this has been the third and fourth time this year that the soldiers have invaded their homes and destroyed their personal belongings. One of the mothers has two sons in Israeli prison: Ihsan Awada, 25, who has been imprisoned for 5 months and Husam Awada for 1 year. She also related how one of the invasions took place right before her daughter was to be married – they shot holes in the clothes cupboards and then burned all their clothes, including the wedding dress and trousseau. Others described crawling on their hands and knees to keep from being hit from the soldiers’ gunfire.
The incursions, explosions and shootings are a nightly occurrence in Nablus.
By Yuval Yoaz, Haaretz Correspondent
The State Prosecution asked the High Court of Justice on Tuesday to rule on whether it is obligated to remove to squatters from dozens of apartments in the Matityahu East district of the West Bank settlement of Modi’in Illit.
The High Court issued an injunction roughly a year and a half ago preventing the apartments from being populated, in response to a petition Peace Now and the Bil’in council that argued the settlement neighborhood is illegal.
The would-be tenants stormed apartments they had purchased after it became clear the construction company, Heftsiba, was going bankrupt. On Monday, the Jerusalem District Court ruled the state is allowed to remove them.
The State Prosecution query to the High Court followed a correspondence it had held with the petitioners’ lawyer, Attorney Michael Sefarad. The prosecution maintains that the High Court ruling, which prohibits the habitation of Matityahu East but does not demand immediate evacuation, is untenable.
In its ruling, the Jerusalem District Court said, “This decree does not contradict previous court ruling, including some issued by the High Court of Justice, that clearly prohibit any use of Heftsiba housing projects.”
Legally questionable land purchases have played a role in bringing one of Israel’s largest contractors and one of the chief builders of West Bank settlements to the brink of bankruptcy, says the spokesman for Americans for Peace Now.
by Ori Nir. Published: 08/10/2007
WASHINGTON (JTA) — When West Bank settlers recently launched an ambitious campaign to sell homes in settlements to American Jews, Peace Now warned that investing in real estate across the Green Line was not only politically and morally wrong but also financially risky.
Little did we know that this real estate twilight zone would play a role in bringing Heftzibah Construction, one of Israel’s largest contractors and a chief builder of West Bank settlements, to the brink of bankruptcy.
Although the financial collapse of Heftzibah was due not only to its illegal building on privately owned Palestinian land, its story should serve as a red flag for anyone considering a real estate deal in a West Bank settlement. Ask the 430 fervently Orthodox families that paid Heftzibah $100,000 each for small apartments in the settlement of Modi’in-Illit. These homeowners are barred by court order from occupying their homes because Heftzibah built some of them on private Palestinian land.
The story of Heftzibah’s entanglement in Modi’in-Illit is a microcosm of how land has been grabbed and manipulated by settlers, dealers and contractors — with the generous helping hand of Israeli politicians and government bureaucrats.
It started with the dubious purchase by an Israeli land dealer of large plots around the village of Bil’in, west of Ramallah. The land dealer, Shmuel Enav, was later convicted of encouraging other land dealers to make financial contributions to the right-wing Likud Party in exchange for expected favors from Likud’s elected officials.
In and around the site of Modi’in-Illit, Enav bought large plots of land from Palestinians who apparently misrepresented themselves as the legal owners of the land. According to an investigation by the Israeli newspaper Ha’aretz, Israeli government officials declared the land “state land” and then leased it to the dealers in order to launder potentially illegal land deals.
Other portions of the land zoned for the large housing project in Modi’in Illit, now the largest settlement in the West Bank, were outside the municipal boundaries of the settlement and known to have been privately owned by Palestinians. Despite all that, building permits were issued — illegally — and Heftzibah went ahead with the construction project.
At that point Peace Now, with some of the landowners, appealed to the Supreme Court, which ordered the work stopped. The court also ordered the government to open a criminal investigation to determine how the illegal building permits were issued and explain why it would not demolish the illegally constructed homes.
If anything is unique about this story, it is that Heftzibah and others are being held accountable by the Supreme Court for the kind of illegal conduct that has become common practice in the West Bank. Recent Peace Now reporting, based on official Israeli government data, shows that about one-third of land used by West Bank settlements is private Palestinian property. The data show that nearly a quarter of land on which the settlements are actually built is privately owned by Palestinians.
Furthermore, Peace Now reporting points out that despite the very generous allotment of land for settlements by the government — only 9 percent of the area under the jurisdiction of West Bank settlements has been built on — nearly all of the settlements, 90 percent, exceed their official boundaries. About one-third of the territory used by the settlements lays outside their jurisdiction.
Peace Now’s petition to the High Court of Justice was intended not only to protect the rights of Palestinian landowners. Foremost, it was done with Israel’s security in mind, with the strong conviction that a viable, stable Palestinian state in the West Bank is a necessary condition for long-term Israeli security. Settlements hinder the establishment of such a state.
The intensified litigation efforts by Peace Now obviously are not an alternative to political action by the Israeli government to freeze and then reverse the settlement enterprise. This litigation, rather, serves the function of deterrence. It is a way to remind Israelis — the government and the public — that settling the West Bank is not cost-free and that land across the Green Line is not a reserve of real estate for expansion. Court action is a tool to focus Israelis on the tremendous political value of the West Bank as the territory from which Israel will need to withdraw if it is to continue to exist as a democratic Jewish state.
Hopefully, by giving a second thought to the financial risks of investing in West Bank real estate, Israelis and American Jews will also ponder the damage done to Israel’s future by constructing settlements across the Green Line.
Ori Nir is the spokesman for Americans for Peace Now, a Zionist organization that promotes Israel’s security through peace and supports the Israeli Peace Now movement.
Nablus: Occupation Forces Use Family Home As Sniper Post
At around 7:50pm a group of seven internationals were alerted to a house occupation by Israeli forces which had lasted for almost 20 hours. Israeli soldiers occupied the home of the Dwakat family, which consists of 2 brothers, Muhammed 28 years old and Hamed 29 years old, the wife of one of the brothers, 25 years old, and their two small girls aged three and six years old. Residents suspected that Israeli soldiers were interested occupying the house due to its location facing the Balata refugee camp. This was the second time the house had been invaded in the last three months.
The international group arrived at 8:05pm. After trying to assess the situation from locals who lived in the area and who knew the family, a group of six went up to the second floor of the apartment building while one person stayed behind outside the house to monitor the situation as a safety precaution. Internationals knocked on the door for about 5 minutes and asked to see if the family were alright. The door opened slightly and was immediately shut again. The room inside was in complete darkness as was the rest of the building.
After another minute or so one male soldier with an American sounding accent opened the door to speak with the internationals assuring them that the family was fine and was in need of no medical attention. He asked for the video camera to be turned off and then brought one of the brothers to the door to show he had been unharmed. The soldier then promptly shut the door and refused to engage in further dialogue.
The American international stationed outside the building was brought in to try and resume negotiation with the soldier. She entered the building while another international went outside to take her place. After speaking with the soldier she was able to see that the two young children were unharmed, but was unable to get inside the apartment.
After placing a call to the humanitarian line of the DCO, the internationals were assured the family would be released very soon. Within the next few minutes, a large army vehicle arrived and parked directly outside the entrance to the apartment block while another couple of smaller armoured army vehicles arrived and parked on each adjacent side. At the same time other army vehicles were seen heading towards Balata refugee camp at which time the internationals decided to move to the camp while another two stayed behind to ensure the release of the family. At approximately 9:10pm almost an hour after the international group arrived, 10 soldiers vacated the apartment block and immediately drove away. Prior to that one of the soldiers who had driven up in an armoured vehicle had requested to speak to the two internationals away from the entrance to the apartment block stating it was not safe for him to be there, however only one of the internationals went to speak with him to find out exactly when the family would be released while one stayed facing the entrance to the building. After the soldiers were seen to have left and started driving away the two ran upstairs to check on the family. They all appeared to be fine and were full of smiles especially the two young children.
Hamed Dwakat told the internationals that a group of ten soldiers had rung the bell at around 2am. The soldiers asked Hamed if there was anyone else present in the building and told him that they would open fire on him if they were lied to. The soldiers then entered the apartment and told the family not to speak at all. They were held in the kitchen for 20 hours. A soldier sat pointing a gun at them the whole time while the other soldiers occupied the rooms facing the refugee camp. The family were able to eat snacks and use the toilet throughout. He also told us that at around 6am four hours from the time the soldiers entered, young children on the street below suspected there were soldiers inside and started throwing rocks up to the second floor window, to which the soldiers responded by opening fire.
