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Military Government:- Colonialism in A New Style
When Theft Is Conducted With An [Israeli] Court Order
Israel Refuses to Issue Residency Cards for Young Arabs in Jerusalem
Israel Cancels National Insurance From Jerusalemite Arabs
Israel Refuses To Let Two Arab Patients Be Treated in Its Hospitals
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Military Government:- Colonialism in A New Style
by:- Colonel Reserve Moshe AlAd (former Bethlehem and Jenin Military Governor)- Yediot
Achronot, 02/24/98
Three decades passed on the continuing military government in the West Bank. What appeared in
the beginning as a military action that resulted from a bright military victory has changed,
by times, in to a social, political, and social core stone. Our failure to assess its life
span is a strange creature.
We did not learn from the experiences of the British, Jordanian, and Egyptian who failed in
imposing their control on the [Palestinian] Arabs. We tried to invent a colonialism with a new
style. We besieged a city in the West Bank and we waited under the pressure to know the
international community reaction through the CNN. We closed Gaza because of the deadly,
difficult operations that came from it. We waited with anxiety for reports on children digging
in the dumpsites looking for something to eat and about a reserve soldier who imposes curfew
on a village in the morning, but comes back quick after his discharge in the afternoon to
demonstrate on the entrance of the same village against the curfew he imposed. The army in the
territories had an agitated character and after many years the military governor realized that
it is humane more than necessary.... and while Israel was poking the eyes of the Palestinian
children with rubber bullets, the Civil Administration [AKA Military Governor] erected in the
territories an eye clinic to treat the same injuries.
It was said that the military governor and the collective punishment are two faces for the
same coin. The Israeli Military Governor was facing very tough difficulties to impose
non-collective punishments. And despite the fact that the policy and decision makers realized
that imposing collective punishment is like discarding the new born with the birth water, we
continued this approach and expanded it.
The style of the military government in the West Bank is a unique achievement for the Israeli
army. The rubber and plastic bullets are aimed at causing an injury, but not a serious one: to
rule without absolutism. The State has left in the hands of its military governors the unique
recipe for control of the territories. For that reason, many ill, incurable phenomena were
born like the continuos economic interrelationships between the territories and Israel and our
inclination to prefer the cheap Arab labor.
Thus, the Israeli dictionary became rich with military vocabularies such as settlements,
closure, Intifada, deportation, moderate physical pressure, administrative detention, Peace
Now, Arabists, home demolition, Village Leagues,.......
We are a country who knows how to prepare and get ready fast for the threats of war. We are a
country that yearns for every small openings for peace. But we are a nation that is not ready,
nor knowledgeable of controlling another nation. Never were we geared to be colonialists one
day. Therefore, the tuition fees we paid were very high. The soldiers became almost reserves
without them leaving the alleys of Nablus and Qalqiliah and without them being in another
Israeli army. Every closure that was imposed on the West bank has touched the ethical values
that we grew up with. The new Palestinian generation that grew up under our rule, the
generation that built our homes and cooked our meals, have taught us with its cynical Hebrew
that there is no governor without his people.
When Theft Is Conducted With An [Israeli] Court Order
It did happen that the Israeli "absentee property guardian" rejected the alienation of
property in Jerusalem to an Arab who purchased the land from its legitimate owners in Beit
Jala (the West Bank.) And there is a chance that the same thing may happen again in the
future. But it is a serious precedent that an Israeli judge in Jerusalem allows the alienation
of the same property to a bank owned primarily by Jewish fundamentalists under the pretense
that the owners of the property are unknown. The seriousness of this judge's ruling took the
case to the Israeli Central Court.
Hajj Isa Elayyan from Beit Safafa, an Arab Israeli citizen since Israel took over Beit Safafa
in 1948; purchased a 10 dunum parcel of land in 1972 (a dunum is 835 sq. yard.) The land is
located in the village of Beit Safafa (1948 area.) Elayyan purchased the land from AlAraj
family who were living in Beit Jala (near Bethlehem, 1967 area.) When Elayyan attempted to
register the land in his name, the Israeli authorities refused and told Elayyan that "since
the original owners do not have the Jerusalemite - Israeli- identity, no transfer of ownership
is allowed." The son, Waleed Elayyan, said that the Israeli "absentee property guardian"
claimed that "since the original owners of the property were residents of the West Bank, they
are considered as absentees and they, therefore, could not sell their land in Beit Safafa."
Elayyan's efforts to find a way in the Israeli courts and laws to transfer the property to him
was futile. Though, he maintained the lot which is located opposite to the famous Canyon Mall
in Beit Safafa through out the years.
In 1995, Elayyan discovered that a Jewish by the name of Saul Cohen managed to transfer the
title of 2 dunums adjacent to Elayyan's lot, the other part of a larger lot owned by AlAraj
family. The two dunum lot was also under the authority of the Israeli "absentee property
guardian." "After verification, we realized that the 'absentee property guardian' allowed the
transfer of the ownership to Cohen;" Elayyan said. Based on this, Elayyan decided to go to
court against the Israeli "absentee property guardian" who allowed property transfer to Cohen
but refused it for him. Elayyan's logic was that he and Cohen are both Israeli citizens and
they should be treated equally under the Israeli laws.
But the disaster for Elayyan came after Judge Yael Tzor took with the advice of Cohen of
selling the entire lot in the area (the 2 dunums of Cohen and the 10 dunums of Elayyan.)
Cohen claimed that he did not know where his 2 dunums are located in the whole lot and that he
wanted to erect a commercial project on the land that he owned.
According to Elayyan, Judge Tzor ordered the sale of the land and published a small ad in the
court hall, but not in all main newspapers as mandated. Elayyan's land was sold to Bank
Mizrachi at $500,000 US. After deducting unpaid property taxes of $350,000; Elayyan was left
with $150,000 for his 10 dunums. According to Elayyan, the very same court of Tzor previously
assessed his land at $3.5 million. So, Cohen managed to get a title for the 2 dunums in his
name.
Elayyan thinks that the ruling of the Israeli Judge was very serious not only because it
discriminated against Arabs and Jews but aslo because the Israeli Judge did not publish the
auction note in newspapers and was satisfied with publishing it in the court hall.
Elayyan took the case further against Judge Tzor, the Israeli "absentee property guardian,"
and Saul Cohen to the Israeli Central Court. At this point, the Israeli "absentee property
guardian" claims that the file of the land is "lost." The Central Court commenced its
precedings last Tuesday and there seems to be no way of predicting its ruling.
Many Jews merely claim that they owned certain properties in East Jerusalem since the 20s and
the 30s. And considering the counterfeiting and the illegal acts of land dealers as well as
the abuse of the Israeli "absentee property guardian," it is rather difficult for the
legitimate property owners to recover their properties or sell them. Despite the peace
agreements with Jordan and the Palestinians, Israel has not canceled or changed the Absentee
Property Law because thousands of Arabs will be able to recover [or be compensated for] their
lost properties that Jews took over.
(Al-Ayyam www.al-ayyam.com Feb. 17, 1998), top of page
c. 1998 by Jew Watch
at jewwatch.com
at jewwatch.com
If you have additions or suggestions email@jewwatch.com
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