The supposedly Palestinian controlled West Bank, made possible by the ‘moderate’ Mahmoud Abbas, would probably mean the same thing to anyone ‘freedom for the Palestinians to have their own land free of persecution by Israel’. Of course in practice this has not been true at all, in exchange for his cooperation Mahmoud Abbas’ West Bank has been colonized by ’settlers’ (read: squatters) aiming to take as much of the land of the Palestinians as they can.
Now an Israeli court has ruled that a village in the West Bank be demolished.
The High Court of Justice rejected last week (January 26) a petition submitted by the Association for Civil Rights in Israel (ACRI) and Rabbis for Human Rights on behalf of the Palestinian residents of Khirbet Tana, effectively allowing the State to destroy all of the village’s houses but one, despite the lack of viable planning alternatives for the area’s Palestinian residents.
The Court rejected the petitioners’ assertion that in light of the fundamental failure of the Israeli Civil Administration in the West Bank to issue any building or development plan for Khirbet Tana since 1967, it is up to the State to provide just solutions to ensure residents’ right to adequate housing.
The lack of appropriate outline plans for Palestinians in Area C and the preferential treatment of Israeli settlers in this area represent a longstanding trend of discrimination in building and planning policy on the part of the Israeli authorities. It leaves Palestinian residents of the area with two alternatives: to build illegally or to abandon their homes; building permits can only be obtained from the Israeli authorities if an outline plan exists. Of 149 Palestinian villages and communities in Area C – which comprises 60% of the West Bank – outline plans have been designated for only 16, with an additional two holding separate plans.
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At the same time, the Israeli Civil Administration has authorized the construction, building and modern infrastructure development of settlements and outposts in the village’s vicinity and throughout the West Bank, allowing Israelis access to and possession of vast territories and denying this to the indigenous Palestinian population.
I’d like to commend both ACRI and Rabbis For Human Rights, two human rights organizations which did the right thing: Attempted to keep the ruling from passing through Israeli courts. The tireless work of human rights groups, many of them run by Jews, initself provides a glimmer of hope and reminds us that peace can still be achieved.
As an aside the details and circumstances here appear to be ridiculous, did an Israeli court really make a ruling out of its jurisdiction in this blatant manner? I find the situation ridiculous and blatantly obvious of being an immoral act by Israel and one which cannot be defended even by twisted or spun facts. Yet it seems to be what has happened, I do hope this isn’t the case but I do trust both ACRI and RHR and don’t think they would be spouting a pro-Palestine line simply to be pro-Palestine.
February 13th, 2009 at 12:57 am
This surprises you? From the tone of this blog post, you find suspicious anything that comes from Palestinian sources. There are many many reputable and honest organizations publishing the truth on this issue – see Al Haq (local representative of the Geneva Convention of Jurists or the Palestinian Human Rights Center to name just two).
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