Tag: Settlers

Israel sees court rulings on Palestinian land as mere ‘recommendations’

Akiva Eldar | Ha’aretz

13 October 2009

So what if the Supreme Court rules? In Israel those decisions are just recommendations, especially if they deal with Palestinian land. In most enlightened democratic countries, saying that decisions of the courts obligate the state authorities is like stating that the sun rises in the east. But that may not be so for Israel.

Last week, Supreme Court President Dorit Beinisch had to state that “rulings of this court are not mere recommendations, and the state is obliged to abide by them and to execute them with the necessary speed and efficiency, according to the circumstances of the matter.”

The head of the judicial system added: “In the case before us, the state took the law into its own hands.”

The case dates back to June 2006. The High Court of Justice at that time responded to a petition from Hamoked – the Center for the Defense of the Individual, and instructed the Defense Ministry to move the route of the separation fence near the villages of Azzun and Nabi Ilyas in the northern West Bank.

Aharon Barak, who was then president of the Supreme Court, stated in the ruling that “the petition points to an event that cannot be tolerated according to which the information that was supplied to the court did not reflect all of the considerations that were taken into account by the decision makers.”

He was referring to the fact that the Defense Ministry did not reveal to the court that the route of the fence was congruent with the map of the plan to expand the settlement of Tzufim at the expense of Palestinian lands. The prosecution promised that the fence would be dismantled within six months from the completion of the fence along the new route.

It can be assumed that the officials of the Defense Ministry understood that when the court ordered that the injustice toward the residents of the Palestinian villages be corrected “in the shortest time possible” it was not referring to three and a half years.

In any case, from Beinisch’s remarks about a ruling she handed down during a process of contempt of court, it was evident that this was not her interpretation of Barak’s ruling.

“It is not possible to put up with conduct of this kind,” she scolded the representatives of the prosecution and she ordered the state to pay the petitioners’ court costs of NIS 20,000. This sum was added to another NIS 50,000 which the taxpayers paid when the original ruling was handed down as well as the salaries of the lawyers from the prosecution who were sent to defend against the contempt of court ruling.

Before closing the case, Beinisch stated that in countries where there is a rule of law, a political and public storm would have arisen over this.

“In this case before us, the state took the law into its own hands,” she said.

And this is not the only case where the Defense Ministry has made a mockery of court decisions relating to the route of the fence. More than two years ago, the court ordered the state to consider an alternative to the fence’s route that was robbing the village of Bil’in of lands in favor of the settlement of Modi’in Ilit, and to do so “within a reasonable period of time.”

In the ruling that was handed down after 15 months, Beinisch wrote that the alternative that was chosen was not in accordance with the court decision and she ordered the state to abide by it “without further delay.”

Since then 10 months have elapsed, the residents of the village and their supporters have demonstrated, the police have used tear gas, and the fence is still in place.

Maskit Handel of the Association of Civil Rights In Israel recently documented no fewer than eight cases where the state was, or still is, in contempt of rulings handed down by the High Court of Justice since 2006. Among other things, she found two decisions relating to the fortification of schools in communities along the border with the Gaza Strip, three decisions instructing the state to build 245 classrooms in East Jerusalem, and a decision to stop making the granting of work permits for migrant workers dependent on their working for a single employer.

Enlightened rule

An affidavit submitted to the High Court of Justice a few weeks ago (in response to a petition) by the Defense Minister’s adviser on settlement affairs, Eitan Broshi, indicates that from Ehud Barak’s point of view, anything relating to Palestinian rights, and not only the high court’s rulings, are nothing more than a recommendation.

The affidavit states that the defense minister has decided, for the time being, to refrain from carrying out demolition orders against nine homes in Ofra that were built on private Palestinian land. The explanation no doubt convinced the Palestinians who lost their lands that they are living under an enlightened rule of occupation.

“There is no point in separating this individual case or any other without seeing the general picture and the system of circumstances under which the respondents are acting,” the affidavit stated.

And what is the general picture? Two dozen outposts and numerous illegal homes? And what does the phrase “the system of circumstances” mean? Fear of the settlers?

Daniel Ben Simon, the faction chairman of Barak’s party, Labor, declared during a tour of the outposts organized by Peace Now at the end of August, that if they are not vacated by the start of the winter session of the Knesset, “the Labor party will reconsider its continued membership of the government.”

No special excitement could be seen among the factions on the right when the winter session opened Monday. However informed sources promise that this time they are serious. The sources reveal that in return for the pass the prime minister received with regard to freezing settlement construction, the defense minister has promised the Americans that there will be a speedy evacuation of the outposts, and he has even shown them the schedule.

Settlers attack Palestinians in Hebron following Friday prayers

9 October 2009

Palestinian sources reported that about 40 settlers armed with M16 rifles made an unprovoked attack on a crowd outside the mosque in Shalalah Street following Friday prayers. Many people, including women and children were in the street. Israeli soldiers were also present at the time of the attack but made no attempt to stop the violence. The settlers tried to catch Palestinians and beat them. One boy injured his wrist after falling while trying to climb out of the way. The attack was aborted because of the intervention of a group of about 15 Norwegian tourists, who happened to be in the area. The settlers withdrew as a consequence. In response to the attack a group of four boys, aged between 10 and 21, were later detained for stone throwing. Also detained were two boys who went to the Ibrahimi Mosque allegedly carrying knives.

While the settlers in Hebron can walk around freely with M16 rifles, Palestinians are not allowed to carry guns. They are regularly detained by the Israeli army and imprisoned for throwing stones or carrying knives.

Organizer admits City of David endangers Arab homes

Akiva Eldar | Ha’aretz

5 October 2009

A video tape made during a guided tour of the archaeological excavations at Silwan (the City of David) near Jerusalem’s Old City walls reveals how Elad, the association that runs the dig, works together with the Israel Antiquities Authority, the Israel Nature and Parks Authority and the Jerusalem municipality to dig under the homes of Arab residents.

In the tape, made a year ago, the founding head of Elad, David Be’eri, says: “At a certain point we came to court. The judge approached me and said, ‘you’re digging under their houses.’ I said ‘I’m digging under their houses? King David dug under their houses. I’m just cleaning.’ He said to me, ‘Clean as much as possible.’ Since then, we’re just cleaning; we’re not digging.”

Be’eri goes on to describe an excavation method in which “we built from the top down” and “everything’s standing in the air” [due to the removal of fill]. “Then [the engineer] says, you have to shut the whole thing [because of danger of collapse]. I tell him, ‘are you crazy?'”

In February a pit appeared on the steps connecting the upper part of the village to the lower sections. Three months later, the plaza, beneath which Elad is conducting its intensive excavations, began to collapse.

A tour participant told Haaretz that she also heard Be’eri say he usually leaves a narrow entrance to a dig, and invites inspectors to crawl in. He said most of them make do with a look from the outside.

As for construction of the visitors’ center, Be’eri was also recorded as saying: “You dig and you dig … and one day … we found a rounded corner. We said this is a pool … there’s an 18-meter-high mountain here, above it are Arab houses. And I want to get to the bottom of the mountain, to the pool, to find it. How can I get there? We started to dig carefully, and support ourselves with metal struts that hold up the mountain and the houses. We found ourselves with five kilometers of welded iron inside. It’s crazy. The cost of iron went up because of us.”

“We bought two rooms, this one and the one beneath … and I started to build the visitors’ center,” Be’eri also said. “What can be done with two rooms? Nothing. So … we broke the wall into the mountain … All this space was a mountain filled with earth … the Israel Antiquities Authority came and I told them, ‘we’re renovating…’ At night I would move the terrace. They [the Antiquities Authority] would come in the morning and say, “Hey, it didn’t look like this.”

The Israel Nature and Parks Authority has authorized Elad to run the site, encompassing some of the most extensive excavations in Israel in recent years.

At the beginning of the 1990s, a Justice Ministry probe discovered that one of the buildings handed over to Elad, the Spring House, administered by the Custodian of Abandoned Properties, had been rented to Elad for NIS 23.73 per month. Elad also paid 3,000 Dinars to the Palestinian who lived there, to get him to leave.

Two weeks ago, the High Court of Justice rejected two petitions by Silwan residents against all the bodies involved in excavations under their homes. In her ruling, Justice Edna Arbel cited the public interest in revealing thousands of years of Jerusalem’s history. However, Arbel also said: “The importance of studying the past does not cancel out the interests of the present. It cannot preempt the right of the residents to live securely and cannot overcome the rule of law.”

The Israel Antiquities Authority did not respond to this report by press time. Elad responded that due to the lateness of the request for a response (in the early hours of Sunday afternoon) it was unable to respond.

Residents of Burin protest the destruction of an olive grove by settlers

4 October 2009

The village of Burin came under attack from the nearby illegal settlement of Bracha on Monday the 28th of September. At 5am 25 settlers invaded the farmland of Abid Moussar, taking to his olive trees with chainsaws. 150 trees in total, covering 4 dunums of land were destroyed, just one day before Moussar planned to begin harvesting his crops. A demonstration was called for the following Saturday on the devastated land, only for protesters to be forced off the site by the military.

The trees, planted 30 years ago by Moussar himself, will take another 10 years to rejuvenate to a point at which they can once again be harvested for their olives. The same farmland has come under attack year after year, with settlers attempting to burn the trees on several occasions. For Moussar, though he owns the largest farm in the area of Burin, the economic consequences are dire – this is his only source of income. More widely, the effects of the annexation of thousands of dunums of land by settlements Yitzhar and Bracha that envelope Burin, ripple throughout the community.

The harvest has begun regardless, with villagers working the wasted land before the trees can be cleared. Military and international presence maintain a close watch with minimal settler incursion since the initial attacks.

The following Saturday, 3 October, local and international protesters gathered in the centre of the village to march to the site of the destruction, where they hoped to demonstrate peacefully against the violent adversity on their doorstep by clearing the land, readying it for the next year and hopefully a more successful harvest. Soldiers surrounded the protesters as they approached the land, allowing them stay long enough only to clear the trees. The protesters were then forced off, as the army stated the villagers could return only on the dates given to them by the District Coordinating Office.

The village of Burin and its surrounding neighbours lost thousands of dunums of land  and have been subject to numerous violent attacks from the two illegal settlements of Bracha and Yitzhar that sandwich the Palestinian villages.

Settlements are illegal under international law and both settlements have numerous outposts that continue to annex further Palestinian land in violation of both Israeli and international law.

Israeli government prepared to return land annexed from Iraq Burin

2 October 2009

Iraq Burin has re-commenced its lively weekly demonstrations after a month-long Ramadan hiatus, with approximately 150 villagers and internationals joining forces on Friday, the 25th of September, to protest the occupation. The village’s return to form was welcomed by the Israeli Occupation Forces with standard fare “crowd dispersal” techniques. In the following week the village received a statement from the Israeli government that it was prepared to return an unspecified amount of contested farmland that lies between Iraq Burin and the illegal settlement of Bracha, signifying an important breakthrough in the ongoing battle across the West Bank against land annexation and settlement expansion.

Following the midday prayer, the protesters marched from the centre to the edge of the village where a public prayer was planned to take place on the contested farmland. Before the protesters were able to amass for the prayer the first sound bombs and tear gas canisters were released by IOF soldiers moving in from either side of the valley, surrounding the protest. Settlers observed from a hill top whilst the crowd dispersed, as a deluge of tear gas canisters were fired directly at protesters. Many suffered effects of suffocation due to gas inhalation and two Palestinian men were removed from the scene on stretchers by Red Crescent personnel for further medical treatment.

Much to the amusement of protesters Israeli soldiers themselves were forced to scatter during the protest as they suffered from plumes of their own tear gas fired by their comrades on the opposite hill top. The wind was not working in their favor as gas directed at the crowd engulfed soldiers due to a well timed breeze.

In the aftermath of the demonstration a checkpoint was established by the military at the main exit point to the village to track movement. Those who had come from surrounding regions to support Iraq Burin’s resistance were forced to climb down the mountainside in order to avoid the checkpoint security due to fear of arrest and reprisal.

Iraq Burin has aimed to take its place amongst Bil’in and Nil’in as examples peaceful resistance  and  rallying of regional and media support against the occupation. Has the first breakthrough already been made? An unprecedented declaration by the Israeli government to return some of the annexed land to the village was released in the wake of this latest demonstration, mounting faith in the power of protest for some, and skepticism in others. A secondary statement was issued by the government, expressing a wish to “lease” the land from the village. The mayor of  has responded that the land should be returned to the rightful owners for the village’s agricultural means. Should the declaration be withdrawn, or on undesirable terms, the weekly demonstrations will re-commence, no doubt gathering momentum and media attention.