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Palestine: If the Land Isn't Private?
Not long ago the greengrocer in Ramallah recalled - between weighing locally grown zucchini and stripped hyssop leaves - that his family owns the land on which the gas station at the old entrance to the Jewish settlement of Beit El in the West Bank is located. He would not be surprised by the figure that the Peace Now movement has succeeded in officially extracting from the defense establishment, after more than a year of fighting for the freedom of information: About one-third of the Jewish settlements in the West Bank (44 out of 120) were built on privately owned Palestinian land that was seized, by means of confiscation orders, for "security needs."
From the data it emerges that at least 19 of the 44 settlements were built on private land, even after prime minister Menachem Begin decided in 1979 that the construction and expansion of settlements would take place only on state-owned land.
Peace Now has revealed here another act of hypocrisy, even though the Supreme Court is no longer impressed even by this: It did, after all, legitimize the construction of the settlement of Matityahu on land owned by inhabitants of Bil'in.
The known fact that settlements are built on private Palestinian lands combines all too well with the general civic and institutional Israeli perception to the effect that Palestinian lands that are not privately owned, or that lack proof of private ownership, belong to the Jewish people in Israel and the Diaspora.
Under the Israeli approach, which has expanded further since the Oslo Accords, any land that is not private was and remains suitable for Israeli development - for the benefit of the Jewish citizens of the state and for those who have the right to immigrate to Israel under the Law of Return. These are exactly the lands that constitute a considerable part of Area C (which is under Israeli military and administrative responsibility, and holds 60 percent of the area of the West Bank) and prohibited for any Palestinian development. It is on these lands, which are denominated "state lands," that two-thirds of the settlements are built. No less illegally.
The discussion of whether West Bank lands are privately owned or not reverberates far more loudly than the discussion of Israel's takeover of the Palestinian expanse by means of the closure policy. For example, since February 5, the army has once again severed the towns of the northern West Bank from the rest of the territory by means of roadblocks, and has forbidden males between the ages of 16 and 35 from leaving their towns. The media don't report on this.
The discussion of private land reverberates well in the Israeli (and American) media because of the exaggerated sanctification of private property. And now, Peace Now must correct its initial report of October 2006, in which it was stated that 86 percent of the area of Ma'aleh Adumim is private Palestinian land. It emerges that only .05 percent of Ma'aleh Adumim is private land.
Nonetheless, this non-ideological Jewish settlement is among the most damaging to the Palestinians, and it reinforces the regime of apartheid roads: It cuts the northern part of the West Bank off from the southern part, and prevents Palestinian territorial contiguity. The road that leads to Ma'aleh Adumim will soon be closed to Palestinians, who will be diverted to a separate, narrow and winding road. This Jewish settlement has caused the banishment of many Bedouin from their lands and their ways of life. Together with the adjacent Jewish settlements and the separation barrier, it has taken over lands that had served the Palestinian towns and villages in the area, their natural reserve for development and expansion.
And so what if this is land that was not registered as private? Because of this robbery, these villages and towns have become crowded, choking neighborhoods that are cut off from the larger expanse.
The extensive work that Peace Now has invested in exposing the private ownership of lands is a mirror image of the extensive and systematic effort of Civil Administration experts to prevent inhabitants of the villages from cultivating their lands beyond the separation barrier. They measure out for each individual his part in an inheritance and in accordance with this, they allot him the hours during which he may pass through the gate to harvest olives or to plow the land. They prevent shared cultivation of the land and calculate which of the siblings in a family is abroad so that, heaven forfend, his share of the land will not be cultivated by others.
All of this is a preliminary step to expropriate land that remains "without owners" and its transformation in the future into state land - that is, Jews' land.
The exaggerated concentration on private ownership feeds into the Israeli denial of the fact that the Palestinians' right is to all of the territory that has been occupied. Not as private individuals, but rather because they constitute an indigenous national group in this land.
© Copyright 2008 Haaretz
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14 Comments so far
Show AllMore ways for the thieving apartheid nations to steal properties from the Palestinians....
When will the general population of the US understand that the problem is about land and water - NOT 'right to exist' or anti-semitism.
It's about downright thievery of territory by the Zionist Israelis aided and abetted by The US and the EU.
Palestinians had the mis-fortune to be in the way of this land-grab!!!!
If nation-states have karma, I wouldn't want the Reich of Zion's karma.
The Palestinians should publicly take the attitude that the obvious fair response is that non-private land in Israel proper should be Palestinian. That is a bit over 90%, I believe, if co-ops are considered non-private.
It's funny how both sides of these issues are discussed in Israel, but in the US, we only get the Baghdad Bob version from the MSM, Israel-Good-Just Protecting - Themselves from Evil-Dangerous -Palestinian- Terrorists.
Anyone criticizing Zionism or Israel gets jumped on as an anti-semite (Palestinians are semites, many Israeli Jews are not). So most people do not even try anymore. The ignorance of the American people on this issue is such that it is like trying to discuss the theory of relativity with cave men, or evolution with those today who believe the world was created in 6 days 6000 years ago. I mean, most people still believe fires brought down 3 steel buildings.
People have karma.
People can profit by a policy like this.
People can work to assist a policy like this.
People can be quiet and let a policy like this continue.
People can actively oppose a policy like this.
People have karma.
People's decisions decide their karma.
Israel is based upon untruths ......... so why ought its lying be any surprise?
"When will the general population of the US understand that the problem is about land and water - NOT 'right to exist' or anti-semitism." (curmudgeon99)
"the Reich of Zion" (Little Brother)
As long as westerners continue to grab nazism, apartheid, and other historically inapplicable frames of reference for their arguments on the issues of the Middle East, the "problem" will always be about right-to-exist and anti-semitism.
"If nation-states have karma, I wouldn't want the Reich of Zion's karma." "People have karma."
People keep talking about karma. OK, good, I dig karma. But wouldn't the concept of karma suggest that the suffering that the Palestinian people have experienced during the past 60 years is their own fault, the result of their own past actions? Is it only the Israelis who have karma here?
I will have to think about Karma here.
What I see is thousands of years of oppression of Jews, which results in a collective re-telling that people of Jewish identity are not safe anywhere...which leads to a fear of death, a fear of non-existence. Then there is a belief that having a Jewish-only homeland is safest, only it is actually less-safe.
I am a pro-Semite: pro-Jewish and pro-Palestinian.
I want all people of Jewish descent to be safe everywhere in the world--and I want Palestinians also to be safe and to have a home.
At this point I believe a one state solution makes the most sense--as there can be no contiguous Palestine--with all these settlements.
There is not ONE SINGLE DEMONSTRABLE PIECE OF EVIDENCE for a Hebrew/Israeli cultural presence on that entire landscape before the accepted date of an Egyptian imperial inscription circa 1212 BCE---and as the world and The Bible itself know, "Canaan" and "Palestine" were very much inhabited for a long time by then. Decades of science and studies still cannot explain how the thriving, egalitarian, sophisticated and MULTICULTURAL "Philistines" (the descendants of Minoan Crete) were virtually erased from that landscape especially since Hebrew culture(s) of that time had virtually nothing to offer all the others around it---be it religion or any kind of material culture they might have wanted instead of their own. SO---like colonials in the New World---when you conquer a place, you open a door to eventually being conquered yourself; and if you gave the "natives" no chance, no hearing, no sympathy, no mercy (as "God" commands on every Old Testament page), you can hardly expect it. There is only one solution that can somehow deal with the history as it is, a ONE SECULAR STATE solution of sharing the land between two religion-based societies in respect and toleration. Trouble is, BOTH religions virtually forbid that in the first place ("circumcise your heart, have no friendship or 'intercourse' with the outsiders," etc., quoth The Lord)....So it is as the old rabbi said: Either kill and remove "them" all, or forget about Zion.... http://ancientgreece-earlyamerica.com
It is a colonial land grab for land and other resources, just made complicated by religion and history. Little by little, each day more and more people are enlightened about the situation. The truth always comes out eventually.
MIKE asks, "But wouldn't the concept of karma suggest that the suffering that the Palestinian people have experienced during the past 60 years is their own fault, the result of their own past actions? Is it only the Israelis who have karma here?" From my understanding there is both individual karma and group or collective karma.
It's probably one of the key spiritual fault lines in the world that the birth place of 3 of the most extensively followed patriarchal religions is also the zone of most heated conflict. This would tend to suggest a major flaw in the thinking of each religion. Religion ideally should serve to honor our understanding of Creator by honoring Creation. If the human being is the paragon of that Creation paradigm, then naturally our capacity to honor one another, even in the face of ideological differences is mandatory. Instead, religions act like intellectual sports events where each tries to use the 'best' argument to win its team membership, and all seem to fight against one another. The enlightened in any sect recognizes the absurdity of this play-out, but the enlightened are seldom the ones who win the pulpit. Isn't that the same with politics? These groupings have become their own ersatz corporations and they only allow leaders to maintain the status quo. Even though religion is one force drawing too many millions into armed conflagration, it doesn't stop and pause and do the big spiritual reflection thing that any TRUE spirituality calls forth.
Karma is like an invisible spiritual accounting system. Therefore some force beyond our own must be able to DO that accounting. I firmly believe that what's happening in the so-called Holy land counts against the karma of every sentient soul. The level of responsibility is tied to how much individuals support the monstrosity of the Iraqi War, US imperialism and Israel's copying of similar tactics.
Some on CD have spoken of the fear consciousness that leads many to take more than they need. Greed or the love of money was characterized as the worst of sins for good reason. Since awake citizens recognize the difficulties of moving their government away from heinous policies of willful destruction, what they must do is work on themselves (while not giving up the outer cause!), keeping peace active in their hearts. The Buddhists have truly condensed all teachings into one basic Truth: Harm none.
SIOUXROSE -- Exceptionally well stated.
Let us all create in PEACE. We make it so. We are the world.
Namaste … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … Mahatma Gandhi … … … … … … … … … …
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