On 31 December 2009 IWPS received a call from the Mayor of Qarawat Bani Hasan to participate in a demonstration in solidarity with the residents of their village. The non-violent, peaceful demonstration organized by the Municipality took place on January 1 2009, and was in response to increase settler activity in the area.
The Mayor of Qarawat Bani Hasan reported that over the period of the last month armed Israeli Settlers and Israeli military from the illegal outpost of Havot Yair had been harassing and attacking farmers and shepherds who work regularly on land approximately a kilometer from the village centre. The land in the region in question is jointly owned by the villages of Qarawat Bani Hasan and Deir Istyia and hosts an ancient fresh water spring which is regularly utilised by farmers and shepherds from both villages. The Mayor also informed IWPS volunteers that the area is often visited by children from Qarawat Bani Hasan, who have also faced physical abuse by armed settlers from Havot Yair.
The illegal settler outpost of Havot Yair is an off shoot of the illegal Israeli colony of Yaqir and was first established in 1999, only to be later evacuated and re-established in 2001. The illegal outpost is located on a hill top, which is one – two kilometres from the valley in which the ancient spring is located.
Seven days ago, villagers notified the Mayor of Qarawat Bani Hasan that the illegal settlers had begun carrying out significant construction work in the spring area. This included the construction of a road and the digging of additional wells and cisterns (all of which were visible when IWPS visited the area). Villagers reported that the work carried out by the illegal settlers had taken place during the night.
The Mayor informed IWPS volunteers that on December 31 he visited the spring area in order to ascertain what settler activity was taking place, and to peacefully ask the settlers to cease illegal construction on his village’s land. According to the Mayor, the illegal settler he spoke to refused to cease construction and stated that the land was supposedly not being used by the village of Qarawat Bani Hasan and that he (the settler) was entitled to act on the Ottoman Law, utilized by the Israeli state, to claim ‘unused’ Palestinian land as ‘state land’.
In response to the illegal settler activity of their land, the residents of Qarawat Bani Hasan, decided to hold a demonstration in order to re-assert their ownership of the land. Approximately 100 residents of Qarawat Bani Hasan including children, were joined at the rally by the Assistant District Governor of the Salfit region; the Mayor of Deir Istyia; village activists from Deir Istyia, Hares and Marda; and volunteers from the International Women’s Peace Service.
The strong rally marched from the village centre to the spring valley region. The rally was accompanied by a ‘bagger’ (bulldozer/excavator machinery) organised by the Municipality, with the aim of reclaiming and rehabilitating the land in response to the settler construction activity. Upon reaching the valley and spring area, a noisy but peaceful demonstration ensued, with the bagger clearing a roadblock erected by the illegal settlers and refilling the large cistern/well chamber dug up by the settlers.
Over the coming weeks, the residents of Qarawat Bani Hasan hope to continue work on the rehabilitation of spring valley area and to carry out of range of non-violent peace programs to re-assert their ownership of the land.
In addition to its weekly confrontations with the Israeli army, the village of Bilin has taken its case to a Quebec court. (Silan Dallal/Activestills.org)Abdullah Abu Rahme can no longer sleep in his own home. A member of the Bilin Popular Committee Against the Wall, Abu Rahme explained that since Bilin began its legal proceedings in Canada, Israeli soldiers have made life especially difficult for residents of the small West Bank village.
“[Israeli soldiers] came to my home and they tried to arrest me. They’re destroying my home. It’s not allowed to me to sleep in my home. I feel very bad about this. I’m suffering from this case until now,” he said. “I took my family to another place. It’s very difficult for me.”
Still, Abu Rahme and the villagers of Bilin are pushing forward in their nonviolent struggle against the Israeli occupation by appealing a Quebec Superior Court ruling in their case against two Canadian companies. The residents of Bilin are suing Green Park International and Green Mount International, two companies that, they argue, should be held legally accountable for illegally building residential homes and settlement infrastructure on the village’s land, and marketing these buildings for the purpose of transferring exclusively Israeli civilians therein.
Bilin is a small Palestinian village of approximately 1,800 residents located 12 kilometers west of Ramallah in the occupied West Bank. Since the early 1980s, about 56 percent of Bilin’s agricultural land has been designated by Israel as “State Land.” It has been used to build the Jewish-only settlement Modiin Illit, which holds the largest settler population in the occupied West Bank with more than 42,000 residents and plans to grow to up to 150,000.
Israel began building its wall in the occupied West Bank in 2003. The wall literally cuts the village of Bilin in half. Since 2005, the residents of Bilin have held weekly demonstrations every Friday against the wall, garnering international attention and support for their efforts. The International Court of Justice (ICJ) ruled that the wall was illegal under international law in a 2004 advisory opinion. A year later, the Israeli high court also ruled that the wall’s route through Bilin was illegal and should be moved closer to the boundary of Modiin Illit. However, neither the ICJ nor the Israeli high court rulings were implemented.
The case against the Canadian companies was heard in Montreal in June 2009. However, Judge Louis-Paul Cullen found that the Israeli high court, not the Quebec Superior Court, was the best venue to hear the case. This ruling was centered on the issue of forum non conveniens, the Latin term for “inappropriate forum.” According to Emily Schaeffer, an Israeli attorney representing Bilin, the term states that “if there’s a better forum for the case, for various reasons, then the case should not be held or heard in the court it’s being brought to but rather in another court.”
Schaeffer maintains that the Quebec court is the only legal forum that can possibly hear the case, since both companies are domiciled in the province. “Israeli courts have repeatedly refused to examine the issue of the legality of settlements. Because that’s the issue for the case in Canada, there’s no other forum than the home of the companies who are registered and domiciled in Montreal,” she said.
“The decision to appeal is because we believe we’re right. We believe that the judge made an error. Our position is that the Israeli courts cannot and will not hear this case. Legality of settlements is not an issue that can be brought to Israeli courts,” Schaeffer added.
The Canadian federal legal system has adopted the Fourth Geneva Convention and the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court under the Canadian Crimes Against Humanity and War Crimes Statute. The Fourth Geneva Convention of 1949 bars an occupying power from transferring part of its civilian population to the territory it is occupying. To do so is considered a war crime under the Rome Statute.
Setting a precedent
While the overall decision was disappointing, the judge’s sub-rulings can be seen as minor victories, Schaeffer explained. “The village of Bilin prevailed in almost every single aspect, and in two of the three motions. Something that we took as a victory [was that] corporations do have liability under Canadian law for their actions and violations of international law abroad. That’s precedence-setting,” she added.
For Schaeffer, a positive ruling would mean setting a precedent to stop other international companies from abetting Israeli war crimes. “If Bilin succeeds in this appeal, it will make more waves [in Israel] and that’s a good thing because what we also want is to discourage other companies from taking similar actions and taking part in war crimes in the occupied territories,” she explained.
Schaeffer added that she was as of yet unsure whether the entire case will be open to appeal, or if only the issue of forum non conveniens would be examined, and that the appeal will likely take several months before being processed.
The struggle continues
According to Freda Guttman, a Montreal-based activist who recently spent three months in Palestine with the International Solidarity Movement (ISM), being involved with the Bilin campaign in Canada felt like something she needed to do. “It’s a very important cause. If they win this, it will set a precedent not just in Canada but everywhere. It feels like something very important to be involved in,” Guttman said.
Spending time in Bilin demonstrated to Guttman just how strenuous it is for residents to keep fighting the occupation, and the immense burden it places on their daily lives. “My excitement about [the appeal] is sort of tempered by the fact that I see the toll it’s taking on peoples’ lives there. They never know when the army is going to come. It’s just constant,” she said.
For his part, Abdullah Abu Rahme explained that the ruling by the Canadian court left the villagers of Bilin feeling disheartened and upset, but they haven’t lost hope.
“We are very sad about the decision about refusing the case in Canada but we hope to have another decision. We hope to [be restored] our rights and to have justice in this court,” he said. Abu Rahme added that the outpouring of support from international activists has been a huge motivator for residents of Bilin, who are organizing the village’s biggest demonstration yet for the five-year anniversary of their weekly nonviolent demonstrations next February.
Guttman, describing the Canadian legal proceedings as “a roller coaster,” said she too is prepared for the long haul. “I don’t think it’s going to be easy and I don’t think it’s going to be quick. [Bilin is] a very important movement at the forefront of the struggle,” she said.
According to Abu Rahme, that struggle will continue until justice is achieved in Bilin, the West Bank and all of Palestine. “Every Friday we are there. We want to continue our struggle. Until now there is no justice, for the wall and the settlements. We will continue our nonviolent struggle with the support of the internationals and our faith to have justice and to remove the wall and the settlements and the occupation.”
Jillian Kestler-D’Amours is a student and freelance journalist based in Montreal. More of her work can be found at jkdamours.wordpress.com.
The declaration of land as state land and the registration of state land in the land registry has, since 1967, been the principal method used by Israel to take control of land to build settlements and create land reserves for their future expansion.123 Until then, the state relied on the claim of “military need” to seize private land, which often required that it prove to the High Court of Justice that the taking indeed was a military necessity.
In implementing this procedure, Israel relies on its manipulative use of the Ottoman Land Law of 1858, which was incorporated in British Mandate legislation, and later in Jordanian law. This law was part of the local law at the time Israel occupied the West Bank, and as such has remained in effect. The law states that a person may acquire ownership of farmland and register it in the land registration office (Tabu) after working it for ten consecutive years. If the person ceases to work the land for three consecutive years, the land is considered state land, and possession is transferred to the government. The power to declare land state land and to administer it is given by the Israel military legislation to the Custodian for Government and Abandoned Property in Judea and Samaria.
A parcel of land that is examined prior to registering it as state land is classified as “survey land.”126 Until the check is completed, the Custodian declares the parcel state land and enables
Palestinians who claim rights in the parcel to file an appeal before a military committee within forty-five days of the declaration. At the end of this period, or following the committee’s decision rejecting an appeal that was filed, the land is registered as state land.
From 1979-1992, the Custodian registered 908,000 dunams as state land. The procedure for declaring and registering land as state land was suspended from 1992 to 1996, when Yitzhak Rabin was prime minister. It was re-instituted in 1997.
A substantial portion of the land registered as state land and used to establish settlements and land reserves for their expansion was, even according to a strict reading of the Ottoman Land Law, privately owned by Palestinians. Israel’s illegal seizure of private land was possible, in part, because of the nature of the bureaucratic process in which the taking of control was carried out. Often (primarily in the 1980s), notice of declaration of a particular parcel as state land did not reach the Palestinians, and when it did, the time for filing an appeal had already passed.
Also, for a variety of reasons, Palestinians were unable to successfully compete against the military authorities at the appeals hearing. Even worse, there have been many cases in which Israel related to survey lands (the land that had not been proven to be state land) as if they were registered state land, and allocated them to the settlements.
It should be noted that, even if Israel had followed the strict letter of the Ottoman Land Law fairly and justly, and had not declared privately owned land as state land, the state has acted improperly because it administered the state land in a discriminatory and illegal manner. State land is public property, belonging to the lawful residents of the West Bank. The role of the occupying state, as the temporary substitute for the sovereign, is to administer the public land for the benefit of that public, or to meet its military needs in the occupied territory. Rather than act in this way, since it began to take control of state land, Israel has completely denied the Palestinians their right to use these lands, and has allocated them only for the establishment and expansion of settlements.
