Stealing Their Way to Statehood - Part IV

by Gil Bringer

This is Part IV of a meticulously researched article that describes in detail how Bedouins of the Jordan Valley are used by the Palestinian Authority to take over territory in Area C surreptitiously.

Read Part I here.
Read Part II here.
Read Part III here.

Sixth Stop: Private Initiative

The only ray of light in the whole story is the Regavim Movement (regavim = clods of earth), which repeatedly takes over legal activity where the state should have been involved. Regavim now participates as a friend of the court in the Abu-Hindi case.

"This is just one example of many similar cases showing how the Palestinians implement Fiyad's plan, in an orderly and well-thought-out way, down to the smallest detail. This is how they intend to unilaterally establish the infrastructure of the Palestinian state by circumventing the need for negotiations with Israel", claimed Betzalel Samotritch, General Manager of Regavim. "The impressive logistical preparations, the precise timing, doing it during the intermediate days of the holiday when the overseer's unit isn't working, the perfect execution of the "operation", the lightning-quick construction of dozens of buildings, topped off with an appeal to the High Court immediately after the holiday - all of this tells us that we are up against a well-oiled and well-funded machine, which operates professionally to establish facts on the ground and to present Israel with a reality that will severely limit its political maneuverability.

Confronted with this dangerous activism most of the Israeli authorities still react like amateurs, perhaps even with criminal negligence. The Israeli failure to take action in the face of the hyperactive activity of the Palestinians is turning the current political discussion in Israel about whether to establish a Palestinian state into a farce. The Palestinian state is being established right in front of our eyes and the way back is becoming more difficult and dangerous from day to day.

The Israeli High Court serves, knowingly or unknowingly, as a tool for the implementation of the Palestinian aspirations for a state. By easily approving the interim injunctions and because the Prosecutor's office neglects its obligation to defend the demolition orders and react to petitions promptly, political facts on the ground are established and you don't hear a peep from anyone.

In response to our questions, the Ministry of Justice delivered this message: "The prosecutor has not yet received the IDF's reaction to the petition. We suggest that you appeal to the spokesman of the IDF."

The Seventh Stop: Foreign Intervention in Area C

Approximately two years ago the Palestinian Authority began to criticize the states who are the main monetary contributors to the PA. The principal accusation that the PA directs towards the donor states was that these states and their international development agencies have a policy of turning over most of their donated funds to projects in areas A and B, and not to area C. This stemmed from a certain respect on the part of the donor countries for Israeli sovereignty in area C, in keeping with what was agreed to in the Oslo Accords.

In another interview that Da'ik gave to Ha'aretz, he said that in a meeting with international development agencies that deal with agricultural support, they were told that the work with them will not be continued if they refuse to take part in ventures in area C. This global trend of avoiding support of ventures in "forbidden" areas has been broken, according to him.

And this trend has indeed been broken, to the point of total turnaround. According to a document that was prepared in the county of Judea and Samaria's division of research, the PA is today streaming the donors' funds that it receives, especially to area C, despite the fact that most of the population of the PA lives in areas A and B. Here too, the PA sees the Bedouin and their style of settlement in the open spaces as the way to seize the maximum amount of territory in area C.

Next installment - Eighth Stop: Disguising a PA Outpost as a School

Gil Bringer is an attorney who serves as the legal consultant to the Jewish Home faction in the Knesset and co-editor of the "Tzedek" legal supplement to the Makor Rishon Hebrew weekly newspaper. Among other things, he deals with the areas of overlap between law and politics, Zionism and good governance. He can be contacted at gil.bringer@gmail.com

Translated from Hebrew by Sally Zahav

Source: Source: Makor Rishon weekly Hebrew newspaper; http://myesha.org.il/?CategoryID=335&ArticleID=5365&Page=1