المكتب الوطني للدفاع عن الارض ومقاومة الاستيطان منظمة التحرير الفلسطينية
Related Articles
By: Madeeha Al-A’raj
The National Bureau for Defending the Land and Resisting Settlements stated in its latest weekly report , that settler terror and the killing of QusaiMa’tan, 19 by a criminal settler, as well as, the burning of homes and the destruction of vehicles and property in the in the Burqa Village overshadowed the events taking place in the West Bank in which the occupation government was implicated side by side with settlers. However, it didn’t obscure the image of the general policy practiced by the occupying State in the West Bank, and the involvement of the Israeli judiciary, particularly the Israeli Supreme Court in covering up that policy.
In addition to the wave of Jewish terror practiced by the ‘Hill Top Youth’ and ‘Pay the Price’ gangs in in the West Bank, the Israeli Supreme Court rejected a petition earlier this month calling for the evacuation of an institute for teaching the ‘Torah’ in the ‘Homesh Outpost’ built on the lands of Borqa and Slat Al-Dhaher, in the northern West Bank, in a move consistent with the position of the Israeli Government and covering it, following the decision to move the religious institute to a new location close to the first site of the aforementioned settlement outpost, illegally, even according to the laws of occupation.
The judges of that court confirmed in their decision that the roads leading to the new site also pass through private Palestinian land, but this issue “was not at the heart of the petition submitted by the residents and did not form the basis for a decision to issue a conditional order in this case.” In its decision, the court also relied on allegations made by the government that it would work to legitimize and settle the legal status of the Torah Teaching Institute in “Homesh”, following its transfer without permission from private Palestinian land, to what the occupation authorities claim are “state lands” belonging to the so-called settlement council ‘Shomron.’
Thisisn’t the first time that the Israeli Supreme Court presents itself as the ‘Iron Dome’, which provides protection for the occupation government and army, settlers and Jewish terrorist organizations operating in the settlements stand before questioning in international courts, especially the International Criminal Court. This court has previously played such roles many times and in more than one place. The extremist Minister of National Security, Ben Gvir, considered the inauguration of the yeshiva in Homesh‘an exciting historical moment that symbolizes the transition from a government of destruction to a government of building and developing Israel as a whole.’ The Palestinian lands the decision as a ‘reward and encouragement for criminals and a violation of international law’”
In another judicial precedent, the Supreme Court ruled in March 2022 on a petition submitted by the Hebron Municipality on private Palestinian land, and confirmed that ‘the Jewish civilian presence is part of the spatial defense concept of the Israeli army, because the presence of the State’s citizens in the seized lands makes greatcontribution for the security situation in that area.The occupation army is stationed in the center of Hebronthat was previously the main bus station, for which a confiscation order was issued, and a military base was established, named ‘SriyatAlmorafiq’.
In the early 90s of the last century, the occupation army began to allow settlers to live in caravans located in the camp area, and the area was divided between a military area and a residential area for settlers. The Palestinian landowners submitted several petitions, and the occupation authorities argued that the settlers’ homes on the confiscated land for military purposes are justified to serve the purposes of the Army. Thus, the Israeli Supreme Court acted and proved that it is at the forefront of the authorities behind a ‘constitutional basic law’ that establishes the system of Jewish supremacy, as if it wants to fend off the arrows of extreme right-wing parties accusing it of not giving sufficient weight to the identity of the Jewish occupying state.
Parallelwith the Israeli Supreme Court’s decision, the so-called ‘Israeli Magistrate Court’ in Jerusalem came to complete the picture as it decided to release the two settlers who committed the crime of killing the martyr Qusai Jamal Ma’tan, 19 during a terrorist attack by settlers on the village of Borqa, east of Ramallah. The decision to release the criminal settlers, YehielEndor and Elisha Yared, came in light of the provision of the extreme right-wing Israeli occupation government, the occupation courts and its judicial system, the full cover for the settlers to continue their crimes and attacks against the Palestinians and their property without deterrence, and in light of international silence and lack of accountability for these crimes whose perpetrators are allowed from the occupation soldiers and settlers, ‘impunity’.
The Israeli police had demanded an extension of the detention of the settlers, YehielEndor and Elisha Yar, by 12 days ‘on suspicion’ of killing the martyr Ma’tan, but the ‘court judge’ Zion Saharai decided to release the settlers and transfer them to house arrest.
In connection with all this comes the judicial amendments, which the Minister of Justice Yariv Levin, the Minister of Finance, the Minister of Settlement in the Ministry of Army, BezalelSmotrich, and the Minister of National Security Itamar Ben Gvir are pressing to pass in the Israeli Knesset to raise the status of the judiciary, especially the Israeli Supreme Court, on the agenda, including the relationship of those Amendments to the Palestinians in the West Bank, including Jerusalem.
Some believe that the so-called battle for the independence of the judiciary in the occupying state is an internal Israeli affair, but that does not reflect the whole picture, especially since we are facing a right-wing, extremist and racist government that is pressing to resolve the conflict on the West Bank legally after the occupation has gone a long way in resolving it on the ground by planting the West Bank with hundreds of settlements and outposts.
The overriding and reasonableness clauses in the judicial amendments if the ruling coalition in Israel succeeds in passing them in the Knesset, would render the Israeli Supreme Court irrelevant in everything related to construction, settlement activities, land theft, including private lands, settlement outposts, and army violations and crimes. The occupation and the Jewish terrorist organizations operating in the settlements, which marginalizes the role of this court in playing the role of the ‘protective shield’ or the ‘judicial iron dome’ and opens a window for international judicial forums, including the International Criminal Court, to play a role in holding the occupying state accountable for war crimes committed in the West Bank, including settlement crimes and the crimes of the occupation army and Jewish terrorist organizations, which began with the Netanyahu-Smotrich-Ben Gvircoalition taking public and organized forms. This is what political and security circles in Israel fear and warn of its consequences.
As for settlement activities and plans, it is clear that the Far-right Government is in hurry to create more facts on the ground. In Jerusalem, activities continue throughout its neighborhoods and surroundings. Last Monday, the so-called District Committee for Planning and Building at the occupation municipality approved 2 settlement plans, the first in the ‘Ramot settlement’ and the second in the ‘PisgatZe’ev settlement’, with 2,430 settlement units, as well as two hotels with about 500 rooms in the JabalMukaber area, where 20 towers will be built of 24 floors in the ‘Ramot settlement’.
With regard to the‘PisgatZe’ev settlement’, the plan is based on the construction of 8 buildings of 11 floors and two towers of 22 floors, on lands belonging to BeitHanina and Hizma, in addition to a complex that includes settlement units, commercial spaces and public buildings, on a total area estimated at about 130 dunums near the Hizma military checkpoint. The occupation municipality in Jerusalem also agreed to create a plan that combines housing and hotels in the Qasr-MandobNeighborhood in Jabal al-Mukaber on a total area of about 20 dunums. The plan includes about 100 settlement units that will be built in four residential buildings of 9 floors, as well as two hotels of 8 floors that can accommodate about 550 rooms.
In Jerusalem, the Israeli Minister of Construction and Housing, Yitzhak Goldingnow, announced the allocation of NIS 115 million i.e. ‘US $ 30 million’ to protect and maintain security in the Mount of Olives area and the settlements of East Jerusalem, by employing 400 security guards along the entire mountain. For his part, and at the same time, both the Minister of Finance and the Minister of Settlement in the Ministry of Army, BezalelSmotrich, are pushing the Minister of National Missions and Settlements, Orit Stork, to issue a government decision to transfer about NIS 700 million to settlements in the occupied West Bank with the aim of ‘strengthening settlements’ and to authorize the Israeli Ministry of Interior to transfer funds to other places.
The source of the money is from the budgets of government ministries, whereby an estimated amount of NIS 130 million was allocated from the budget of the Ministry of Education and an amount of NIS 200 million from the budget of the Ministry of the Interior. This is taking place in light of Smotrich’s refusal to transfer a due budget to Arab local authorities and promoting the integration of Jerusalemites into Israeli academic institutions, which prompted the Qatari Committee of Heads of Local Authorities to postpone the opening of theacademic year next September, and to start an open strike in all local authorities.
Moreover, In Jerusalem, settlement activities continue in its neighborhoods and surroundings. Last Monday, the so-called District Committee for Planning and Building in the occupation municipality approved two settlement plans, the first in the “Ramot” settlement and the second in the “PisgatZe’ev” settlement, with 2,430 settlement units, as well as two hotels with about 500 rooms in the JabalMukaber area, where 20 towers will be built. From 24 floors in the “Ramot” settlement.
As for the “PisgatZe’ev” settlement, the plan is based on the construction of 8 buildings of 11 floors and two towers of 22 floors, on lands belonging to BeitHaninaand Hizma, in addition to a complex that includes settlement units, jobs, commercial spaces and public buildings, on a total area estimated at about 130 dunums near From the main street before the Hizma military checkpoint. The occupation municipality in Jerusalem also agreed to create a plan that combines housing and hotels in the Qasr al-Mandoub neighborhood in Jabal al-Mukaber on a total area of about 20 dunums. The plan includes about 100 settlement units that will be built in four residential buildings of 9 floors, as well as two hotels of 8 floors that can accommodate For about 550 rooms.
In Ramallah and Al-Bireh Governorate, settlers attacked 2 schools threatened with demolition by the occupation authorities, which are the Ras Al-Teen school, which smashed their windows and vandalized its contents, and the school of the ‘Wadi Al-Siq’ Bedouin community, near the village of DeirDibwan, east of Ramallah, they vandalized its contents and stole some belongings, and destroyed the barbed wire intended to protect the school from the outside of KafrMalek, Abu Falah, and Al-Mughayer that were built in 2020, within the schools of Al-Tahadi and the school of the “Wadi Al-Siq” Bedouin community, near the village of DeirDibwan, east of the city of Ramallah. “Ras al-Teen” in the Bedouin community of al-Qaboun in the town of Kafr Malik, while the occupation forces demolished the EinSamia School, which serves a number of Bedouin communities east of Ramallah, and dismantled and confiscated a caravans.
Moreover, the Palestinian archaeological sites were also exposed to attempts offalsifying their identity and turn them into targets for settlement and judaization activities. In theSebastiatown in the Nablus governorate, the occupation authorities began their first practical steps to implement a settlement project for judaization in the town, as patrols of the occupation forces, the Civil Administration and the Israeli Antiquities Department stormed the archaeological area and handed a notice to evacuate a tent used for tourism purposes under the pretext that it is located in Area C. thus the occupation authorities handed over the archaeological site to an Israeli contractor, who in turn began the engineering survey of the site in preparation for the start of a Judaizing project approved by the occupation government several months ago. Last May, the occupation government approved the allocation of NIS 32 million to restore the archaeological site of Sabastia Park and to establish a Jewish tourist center in the place.
List of Israeli Assaults over the Last Week Documented by the National Bureau:
Jerusalem:
- Holding a judizationfestival in Sultan’s Pool under the title of the International Art Festival ‘HotzutYuzar’, about 100 meters away from the southwestern side of the historic wall of Jerusalem, where the area near Wadi Al-Rababah turns into a theater for thousands of settlers, who disturb the people of Silwan, and restrict their movement. In addition, 37 commercial and industrial establishments out of 200 in the neighborhood face the threat of demolition in favor of the establishment of an Israeli settlement project called ‘Silicon Valley’, while settlers bulldozed a land in the WadiHilwehNeighborhood of Silwan, and others placed iron poles on other plots of land in preparation for fencing and closing it with iron gate.
Ramallah:
- Attacking a citizen’s vehicle in the Turmusaya Plain area, smashing its windows.
- Demolishing agricultural rooms and stone chains in the town of BeitSira, west of Ramallah under the pretext that they are located near the Apartheid Wall, also uprooted a number of olive seedlings planted on an area of about 6 dunums.
Hebron:
- Organizing a provocative march that roamed Al-Shuhada Street and the Al-Sahla Neighborhood to the Ibrahimi Mosque in the Old City of Hebron and chanted racist anti-Arab slogans, ‘Death to the Arabs’ with the participant d hundreds of heavily armed settlers, 6 ministers. The march was titled ‘France Day in Hebron’, as it gathered extremist settlers and French speakers.
- Preventing Aziz Shehdeh Amar from restoring a cave in which he and his family of 6 live in, confiscated building materials, an electricity generator, an electric drill, and other construction equipment in MasaferYatta, south of Hebron, while the occupation forces notified the Khallet Al-Mayh village council to stop work on the road that connects the area of Al-Rifaiya and Al-Dirat, and serves a large number of residents there.
- Demolishing a residential room belonging to Mohammed Ali Al-Shawahin in the Dhal Al-Adra area by settlers from the ‘Ma’on settlement’, built on citizens’ lands in MasaferYatta,
Nablus:
- Destroying olive trees in the Burin village, 2km water lines in Khirbet Tana, which belongs to the lands of BeitFurik, for 7 time by settlers. Settlers also installed a number of ‘caravans’ in the southern area of Burin lands in the area adjacent to the ‘Yitzhar settlement’.
- Residents of the village of Al-Sawiya responded to an attack by settlers who pursued a group of children at the entrance to the village, while the residents of the town of Qusra responded to a similar attack.
- Bulldozing agricultural lands in the town of Qusra, south of Nablus, with the aim of extending high-voltage electricity lines, with the aim of controlling the largest area of land for the benefit of the two settlement outposts ‘EshKodesh and Ahya’, noting that the lands in these areas are privately owned and their owners have Tabu documents.
Salfeet:
- Seizing a bulldozer working in a house under construction on the eastern side of the town of QarawatBani Hassan, under the pretext that it was working in Area C.
- Demolishing a park in the area of ‘Abu Ammar Well’, and broke lighting poles, benches and solar energy cells.
- Demolishing an industrial facility and a 200m2 blacksmith’s workshop in the village of Sarta, owned by Mohammed Ali Sarsour.
Jenin:
- Rejecting a petition submitted recently by Palestinian farmers in the village of Anin to allow them to enter their lands behind the wall on a daily basis, and decided, in collusion with the occupation army and the Civil Administration to allow them to enter their lands under strict restrictions only 2 days a week. N
- Attacking citizens’ vehicles near the ‘Dotan military checkpoint’, and closed the main road linking Jenin, Tulkarm, Ya’bad and its villages, and prevented citizens from passing.
Jordan Valley:
- Storming the archaeological site ‘Shahwan Synagogue’ in the city of Jericho to perform Talmudic rituals, led to confrontations between the citizens and the occupation forces.
