by Gil Ronen
Three years of undercover work yielded footage depicting a system for tricking Israel into giving up land to Palestinians.
The latest video released by nationalist NGO Ad Kan features hidden camera footage that outlines a sophisticated method used by what Ad Kan calls "anti-Israeli organizations" for taking over state land. The footage was shot by the group's activists who infiltrated the ultra-leftist groups that operate in Judea and Samaria over a three year period.
The land involved was allocated in the past to some of the Arabs who live in Judea and Samaria for cultivation purposes only. The land does not belong to these Arabs, and reverts to full state ownership if they fail to cultivate the land for several years.
A group called Ta'ayush seeks to transfer these plots to full Arab ownership, according to Ad Kan. Prof. Amiel Vardi, Head of the Classical Studies Department in Hebrew University and one of the heads of Ta'ayush, explained on hidden camera that Ta'ayush's activists find the plots of land and then consult the legal department of Rabbis for Human Rights, which tells them what legal documents they need to obtain in order to claim the land.
Arabs are then solicited to file lawsuits demanding ownership of the land. In one case documented, the Arab insists that he has already sold the land, but Ta'ayush's Ezra Nawi tells him to "forget the word 'sale'… If you sold it, nobody knows."
'Provocations for proof'
If the land can easily be proven to be state land that was never cultivated, the next option for reclaiming it is to say that the reason the Arabs did not cultivate it is that the IDF prevented them from having access to the land.
The video shows that Ta'ayush achieves this by holding provocations on the land. When the IDF moves in to push out the provocateurs, they capture the event on video and use it to "prove" that the IDF prevented access to the land.
Many portions of the video were shown in earlier videos by Ad Kan, but this is the first YouTube version with English subtitles, provided by Arutz Sheva.
In another Ad Kan video, a Ta'ayush activist is seen explaining: "We work very closely in some of the cases here with the legal department of Rabbis for Human Rights… There are several instances in which we work in cooperation… where we are like the field agents for Rabbis [for Human Rights]…"
The activist makes clear that Rabbis for Human Rights enjoy large scale support from US donors who would not support Ta'ayush and therefore must not know that the two groups are connected: "[They have] a huge amount of donors from Jewish congregations in the US," he says. "That's why their connection to us is, like… delicate… So they [Rabbis for Human Rights] know about it, but the donors are not supposed to know about it."
Arutz Sheva readers in the US might therefore be well advised to forward this news report to acquaintances who may be thinking about donating to Rabbis for Human Rights.
'I proudly say that we work with Ta'ayush'
Arik Ascherman of Rabbis for Human Rights commented on a previous Arutz Sheva report about the Ad Kan material by denying that the connection with Ta'ayush is something that his group tries to hide.
"When I raise money in the US I proudly say that we work with Ta'ayush. Those who criticize us for not checking our facts and sources should be asking how nobody checked the statement of one Ta'ayush activist," he wrote.
Gil Ronen
Source: http://www.israelnationalnews.com/News/News.aspx/208862#.VtiTKuazdds
Copyright - Original materials copyright (c) by the authors.
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