http://www3.haaretz.co.il/eng/scripts/article.asp?id=57645&mador=4&datee=10/6/99
Wednesday, October 6, 1999
In Israel, 'public' is a synonym for 'Jews'
By Amira Hass, Ha'aretz
On March 5, 1996, Major General Ilan Biran, the
IDF commander of the West Bank, issued an order
declaring the entire area of the settlements a
"closed military area." This action was necessary
for security reasons, it was explained. Only the
holders of a permit and those classified as
Israelis were allowed to enter.The order defined
who is an Israeli: "A resident of Israel, someone
whose residence is in the area and who is an
Israeli citizen or who is eligible to emigrate to
Israel under the Law of Return 5710/1950, as it
applies in Israel, as well as whoever is not a
resident of the area and holds a valid entry
permit to Israel." In other words: tourists.
Since the order was issued, which was predictable
given the special circumstances (a series of
Hamas terrorist attacks in February and March of
1996), the West Bank and its Palestinian
residents have experienced extended periods of
hermetic closure that were repeatedly gradually
eased and then reinstated. But the
above-mentioned order is automatically extended.
Incidentally, the need to obtain a permit not
only delays many Palestinians from feasting their
eyes on the green grass in settlements built on
their community's lands. It impedes - if not
completely blocks - them from getting to their
registered lands (which therefore could not be
officially appropriated) along the edges of
settlements and continuing to work their vines
and fig and olive trees.
The ad-hoc bestowing of citizenship on tourists,
to enable them to enter settlements, is a
marginal matter that may amuse researchers of
Israeli bureaucracy. But it happens to anger
"B'tselem," the Israeli information center for
human rights in the territories.
They are having great difficulty in "selling" the
public on their new report. While it does focus
on the history of the settlement of Ma'aleh
Adumim, it primarily provides an exhaustive
lesson on the history of practical annexation,
gradual and carefully planned, of large tracts in
the West Bank and Gaza Strip to the state of
Israel. Annexations have been going on since the
early 1970s with the cooperation of "all the
authorized bodies in Israel and the territories,"
the report establishes. "The government, the
Knesset and the army all issue commands, with the
blessing of the High Court of Justice." That is
how personal and territorial enclaves of Israeli
civil law were created in the territories.
The report, "The Progression of the Annexation -
Human rights violations as a result of the
establishment of the settlement of Ma'aleh Adumim
and its expansion," details the laws and
regulations that paved the way for annexation:
For example, extraterritorial personal status was
first granted to Israeli citizens in the West
Bank in July 1967, under the "emergency
regulations." The defense minister determined
that Israeli citizens violating laws in the
territories would be tried in Israeli civilian
courts. In 1969, Israeli courts were authorized
to hear all legal matters arising between
residents of settlements and Palestinians or
among the residents of settlements themselves.
In 1982, the finance minister enacted a
regulation granting agricultural settlers the
right to compensation for damages caused by
drought, in accordance with Israeli law. As part
of the extension of emergency regulations, the
Knesset enacted additional laws for settlers
related to security services, income tax
regulations, population registry and National
Insurance Institute benefits. At that time, it
was determined that for the purpose of this
special legislation, anyone eligible to emigrate
to Israel under the Law of Return would be
considered "a resident of Israel." In other
words, every Jew.
In 1988, the Knesset authorized the government to
apply the law of development towns and regions to
"local authorities and Israeli citizens" in the
territories as well. This was the first time the
Knesset applied its own law to the settlements as
territories, and not just to settlers as
individuals. What enabled the settlements to
expand under the guise of legality was the
declaration of the land as state land.
The declaration, the B'tselem report explains,
was made by the overseer of government property
in the civil administration, based on a review
conducted by the civil department of the state
attorney's office. Amazingly, in so doing,
Israeli authorities were relying on their
interpretation of the Ottoman land law of 1855.
According to B'tselem, this procedure is flawed.
It is not anchored in Jordanian law, and it
bypasses the land registration process that
existed in Jordanian law and which the IDF had
already frozen in 1968. The "declared" lands were
transformed into "public property." And "public,"
after all, is a synonym for "Jews."
B'tselem concludes its sad report with criticism
of the High Court's justices: "High Court of
Justice judges have on more than one occasion
made general declarations which straightforwardly
express the letter and spirit of international
law relevant to the status of occupation. But
with regard to practical decisions, the judges
have chosen to accept, as is, extensive Israeli
legislation whose sole purpose is to enable the
takeover of Palestinian lands in order to
establish settlements and to distinguish, through
discrimination, between settlements and their
residents and Palestinians. Even if the court
perhaps does not have the power to confront a
determined government, the High Court of Justice
could have at least pointed out the blatant
absence of legality in its actions and deprived
them of legal legitimacy.
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