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Photo:
Residents of the Wadi Yetzol section of East Jerusalem’s Silwan whose homes were built without a permit, Israel, April 13, 2019. Credit: Olivier Fitoussi Published by Haaretz


Given the Israeli legal system’s failure to do justice, Israel’s friends must demand that it act like a civilized country

by Mordechai Kremnitzer for Haaretz
Apr 17, 2019 4:32 PM

Once again the Supreme Court is allowing the demolition of Arab homes, this time in Jerusalem’s Silwan neighborhood, because they were built without building permits, even though the land belonged to the builders.

Once again the courts (both the Jerusalem District Court and Supreme Court) that dealt with the request to delay the demolition orders refused to address the substantive argument regarding the failure of the authorities to approve construction plans in these areas for years, leaving residents no real choice but to build without a permit.

Even worse, the Jerusalem District Court essentially accepted this endless planning process, citing it when it rejected the appellants’ request to delay the demolition order to give them a chance to get approval for the plan they’d submitted. Thus the policy of dragging out planning and construction procedures endlessly, until people simply can no longer obey the law, gains legitimacy.

This is a policy that rewards its promulgators well: It chokes off the ability of Jerusalem’s Arab residents to develop and build, and at the same time forces them into breaking the law. Then the judicial system, acting like an automaton, punishes the perpetrators. In doing so the courts ignore the planning and construction reality as described by the Or Commission; and from what is known to all, or at least to all who seek to know and don’t bury their heads in the sand: The authorities are particularly stringent when it come to Arab construction in East Jerusalem. Among other things, Arab construction is restricted by declaring certain lands green areas, or limiting Arab construction to four-story buildings while Jews can build high-rises.

So while the courts may have issued rulings, they did not do justice, as they committed to do when they were sworn in. They may have been seemingly impartial (something else their declaration of allegiance includes), but they are supporting a system that is built totally on partiality. Is there not one righteous judge in the entire Israeli court system prepared to deal with this issue on its merits and not act like those animals (which I will not name so as not to offend), who refuse to look either sideways or backward?

As Nir Hasson has written in this newspaper, in the parallel universe of Jewish construction, the illegal building by the Elad NGO has gotten totally different treatment. In Elad’s case, although the municipality had issued demolition orders, it agreed to delay implementing them until a plan could be approved that would legalize the construction. Unlike the Arab residents of East Jerusalem, all the paths are open for Elad, a government favorite, to get advance approvals for its moves. Nevertheless, the NGO built without a permit, presumably on the assumption it would be forgiven – an assumption that turned out to be accurate.

For the Israeli government, there is no resemblance and no connection between Jewish construction and Arab construction. In this context, it’s worth mentioning the steps being taken by the Justice Ministry, following the Levi and Zandberg Committee reports, to legalize much illegal Jewish construction in Judea and Samaria. This, even though in most such cases the issue is not merely illegal construction, but construction on Palestinian land, which is forbidden by international law.

We’re speaking, therefore, of serious ethnic-based discrimination, and there is no government official in the Jewish state crying out against it. The infrastructure is being laid, openly, for a form of apartheid rule in those areas of Judea and Samaria that will be annexed to Israel, where there will be masters and there will be those whose presence is a nuisance. All this, as per the nation-state law, will come to encourage, promote, and strengthen Jewish settlement.

Israel is proud of united Jerusalem, and recently gave this expression in the nation-state law. Does the systematic demolition of Arab homes expected in the wake of these rulings symbolize this unity? Or does it reflect a city with a wall in its heart and people with hearts of stone?

Given the Israeli legal system’s failure to do justice, Israel’s friends must demand that it act like a civilized country.
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by IMEMC News

Israeli bulldozers, on Wednesday morning, demolished a Palestinian house and a number of storehouses in the East Jerusalem neighborhood of Silwan.

WAFA correspondence said that dozens of Israeli police cordoned off the Wadi Yasul area, in Silwan, and deployed in the alleyways, as the municipality bulldozers proceeded to demolish the house and storehouses under the pretense of being built without a rarely-issued Israeli license.

Local Palestinians scuffled with police and attempted to prevent the demolition, but they were assaulted by police officers. Several Palestinians sustained injuries as a result of the police assault.

The owner of the demolished structures was identified as Izz al-Deen Barqan.

The demolition took place three days after an Israeli court rejected an appeal submitted by the homeowners against the planned demolition.

Israeli courts, seen as the last judicial recourse against demolitions, in fact are complicit in perpetuating the Israeli policies of forcible transfer against Palestinians.

Using the pretext of illegal building, Israel demolishes houses on a regular basis to restrict Palestinian expansion in occupied Jerusalem.

At the same time, the municipality and government build tens of thousands of housing units in illegal settlements in East Jerusalem for Jews with a goal to offset the demographic balance in favor of the Jewish settlers in the occupied city.

Although Palestinians in East Jerusalem, a part of the internationally recognized Palestinian Territory that has been subject to Israeli military occupation since 1967, they are denied their citizenship rights and are instead classified only as “residents” whose permits can be revoked if they move away from the city for more than a few years.

They are also discriminated against in all aspects of life including housing, employment and services, and are unable to access services in the West Bank due to the construction of Israel’s separation wall.

Large numbers of Israeli forces raided the Silwan neighborhood, in occupied East Jerusalem, and surrounded several Palestinian-owned structures in preparation for demolition, on Wednesday.

Eyewitnesses said that heavily armed Israeli forces, a number of bulldozers and Israeli Civil Administration staff raided Silwan, commencing the demolition of two Palestinian-owned structures.
Ma’an sources confirmed that Israeli bulldozers demolished storage warehouses belonging to Izz Barqan.

Israeli bulldozers also demolished horse stables, which measured 200-square-meters and were built four years ago.

The demolished horse stables belonged to Muhammad al-Qaq.

Sources added that, during the demolition campaign, Israeli forces physically assaulted Silwan residents, including women and children.
Earlier this week, the Israeli Supreme Court rejected an appeal by Palestinian families from Silwan, allowing the demolition of 500 homes and commercial buildings, which were built without an Israeli-issued permit, to take place.

The residents built these 500 homes and commercial buildings about 30 years ago, without the nearly-impossible to obtain Israeli permit.
The Supreme Court’s decision will most probably affect the fates of hundreds of Palestinian families, who will be left homeless following the demolitions.

For Jewish Israelis in occupied East Jerusalem’s illegal settlements, the planning, marketing, development, and infrastructure are funded and executed by the Israeli government. By contrast, in Palestinian neighborhoods, all the burden falls on individual families to contend with a lengthy permit application that can last several years and cost tens of thousands of dollars.