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Frontlines

Can Israel Stop “Palestinian” Thieves From Stealing Its Land?

by David Mark
written by David Mark

According to the website of the Jordan based NGO APNature masks itself as a environmental social justice organization,“concerned with the protection of the environment and the natural resources of Arab countries against all hazards, including the destructive impacts of wars and foreign occupations.”

APNature has taken upon itself to take over Area C, the area allotted to Israel according to the Oslo Accords and where very little Arabs presently live.

Their campaign to plant millions of trees in Area C has been effective. Hill after hill has been taken, turning what was set aside for growing Jewish communities and handing it to “Palestinian” squatters. APNature’s campaign is part of the broader Fayyad plan, whose namesake was the former “Palestinian” Prime Minister and saw Area C as the next stage for “Palestinian” Occupation.

APNature, like lots of faux social justice organizations functioning on behalf of the “oppressed and occupied” in Judea and Samaria claim they are only righting some sort of wrong and so can play on the sympathies of millions who also support environmental causes. What person wouldn’t want to plant trees in “the desert”?

What APNature and those like it, who use the guise of conservation to ensnare and harness the kindness of other for a destructive political cause are doing is land theft on a massiv escale.

Israel has only recently been engaged in enforcing and pushing back on this sort of insidious behavior and interference by foreign organizations.

Im Tirtzu, a Zionist Watchdog organization has brought this issue to the forefront. The group revealed that APNature planted nearly 2.5 million trees in Israel as a means of “green resistance” to “liberate Palestine from the river to the sea.”

Im Tirtzu CEO Matan Peleg said: “Israel’s enemies have learned that they don’t need weapons to conquer Israeli land; all they need is a tree and a camera. While IDF soldiers know how to deal with terrorism, it is much more difficult to fight against this sort of warfare.”

What Can Be Done?

While the government has decided to invest millions of shekels into combatting the “Palestinian” occupation of Area C and the State Lands within it, there is a real need for a change of mindset amongst everyone. The “Palestinian” national movement and its supporters are engaged in more than land theft, they are using environmentalism, not for saving the planet, but for the benefit of their national movement and the armed gangs that come along with it.

Besides a massive injection of cash into projects to plant more trees for Israel in these areas, as well as investments into farming projects, a new type of pioneer in Judea and Samaria needs to be supported. The youth are looking for their movement and if the government eases up on zoning laws for Jews, which the Arabs don’t follow anyway, young pioneers will be the tool to push back and remove the “Palestinian” occupation forces from Area C.

Illegal “Palestinian” house built on State Land.
More houses and trees built and planted without permit on State Land
Illegal houses built on State Land
Water mane being installed without permit, usually resulting in destroying legal water sources.
More illegal building.
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Palestine Falling

Israel Moves to Annexation as the Ultimate Solution

by Orit ben Tzvi
written by Orit ben Tzvi

The Israeli Cabinet is set to approve the landmark Greater Jerusalem Bill next week, in a move that will officially see 19 communities in Judea and Samaria that surround Jerusalem become part of the Jerusalem municipality in what critics say amounts to annexation.

The fact is, Israel has been quietly moving towards annexation over the past year. Of course there are levels of annexation and the strategy has been to apply Israeli law when possible to communities in Judea and Samaria. Without fanfare or public announcements, the Israeli government has been quietly using laws available to them to create a defacto change on the ground within communities beyond the “green line.”

Justice Minister Ayelet Shaked has already proposed new legislation making Israeli law even for Israelis living beyond the Green Line.  Although slammed as “creeping annexation” by critics, former military advocate general Maj. Gen. (res) Danny Efroni, not seen as a right-wing champion, has come out in support of such legislation due to the practical management of Israeli communities in Judea and Samaria and the needs of everyday living.

“The challenge,” says Efroni, “is maintaining the status quo while guarding the interests of civilians in the area.”

This seems to be the strategy that Israel is now taking, which is a blend of unilateralism and practical development in a stretvh of land now under Israeli rule for 50 years.  Prime Minister Netanyahu is said to love the Status Quo, but seeing a chance to create irreversible facts on the ground has made moves to create defacto annexation without any big announcements.

By simply applying Israeli laws evenly to Israeli communities regardless of location as well as expanding the jurisdictional control of Jerusalem to those communities closes to the capital, the question of sovereignty can be set aside for a more feasible annexation that seems to keep all sides at the table.

Then again the PLO, despite their intractability has rightly said that the Greater Jerusalem Bill will destroy the 2-State Solution, which makes the passage of the bill a potential a trigger to a broad Arab uprising. Or does it?

Recognizing the Reality

Netanyahu’s game plan has always been about allowing reality to take hold and eventually when reality took hold, the imaginary dreams of the “Palestinian” Arabs would vanish.  The utilization of the status quo as a concept in securing confidence in the Israeli body politic while all the time creating a situation where Jewish life can actually flourish in Judea and Samaria by merely making jurisdictional and bureaucratic changes may seem overly cautious to many on the right, but this strategy is now clearly the best and most balanced approach to ensuring Judea and Samaria remains in Jewish hands.

The cabinet is not altering Oslo (which is long dead), but carefully applying sovereignty within the confines of previously agreed powers. Afterall, the PLO  can complain, but they signed away their rights to what is now Area C the moment Arafat shook Rabin’s hand on the White House lawn.  No where in that agreement, does Oslo prevent Israel from applying its own rules to communities found within Area C.

Why is this point importan?  Because no one can claim Israel is doing anything out-of-bounds since the “Palestinian” Arabs agreed to give Israel those rights.  Let’s remember Area C is between 60% and 70% of Judea and Samaria.

While not annexing the land directly, applying Israeli law and reorganizing the Gush Etzion regional council as well as Givat Ze’ev, Maale Adumim, and others into a Greater Jerusalem block paves a careful path forward in creating normalization without breaking any previous agreements. This cleverly corners the PLO within its own unhinged rhetoric.

Furthermore, the approach now being taken by Israel, recognizes that Jewish communal life is an unquestioning reality in Judea and Samaria. That reality coupled with a “Palestinian” leadership unable to accept basic facts and a willingness to discuss a practical solution means that a new careful approach is necessary.

The Greater Jerusalem Bill, Shaked’s Israeli Law legislation, and other quality of life developments like approving housing for thousands of Jews in Judea and Samaria form the most intelligent approach to legal annexation now on the table.  Is it perfect?  Not at all, but the move are practical and leaves the PLO cornered and on borrowed time.

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Politics

COUNT BEFORE YOU BUILD IN AREA C

by Josh Hasten
written by Josh Hasten

The last census that Israel conducted in Area C was in 1997.

With all the fanfare surrounding US President Donald Trump’s historic visit to Israel last week, a highly significant news item got lost in the shuffle and received very little attention.

On the day before Trump’s arrival, The Jerusalem Post reported that at the weekly government cabinet meeting, ministers approved a series of “goodwill gestures” to Trump, initiated by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and designed to benefit the Palestinians.
Eight ministers voted in favor, while Bayit Yehudi ministers Naftali Bennett and Ayelet Shaked opposed. The measures comprise economic benefits including the establishment of an industrial zone in Tarkumiya and Jalama, easing of restrictions at the Allenby border crossing, and new construction for Arabs in Area C of Judea and Samaria.

Regavim is adamant that it is that final gesture – building in Area C – which deserves further scrutiny before it becomes a reality.

The principal question is whether there is a true need for building for Palestinians in Area C, or whether there is an ulterior motive here – namely to fulfill the 2009 Fayyad Plan whose goal is to create a de-facto Palestinian state in Area C, which is under full Israeli control, in defiance of the Oslo Accords.

Former Palestinian Authority prime minster Salam Fayyad’s lengthy manifesto calls on Palestinians to put facts on the ground in Area C, including schools, mosques and houses, in anticipation of failed negotiations between Israel and the PA. His hope is that with swaths of illegally funded (by the EU) towns and villages on the ground in strategic locations in Area C, the world community will automatically call for those areas to be transferred to PA control.

A visit to the E1 area, the South Hebron Hills and other locations in Judea and Samaria will prove that the PA over the past seven years has been attempting to implement the Fayyad plan, with an abundance of illegal building, funded mostly by the EU.

It’s important to note that many of the Palestinians and Beduin living in these illegal communities in Area C have been trickling into these areas from Areas A and B.

So the only real way to find out if there is a legitimate need for building in Area C, or whether this is all a ruse, is for the State of Israel to conduct an accurate census of the Palestinian population in that area. Regavim in fact has been demanding such action be taken since 2010.

The last time Israel conducted a census there was in 1997, over 20 years ago. Since then Israel has been relying on PA figures, but a slew of researchers have indicated that the PA numbers are inaccurate.

An example of the discrepancy is a 2011 UN Humanitarian Fact Sheet on Area C, which estimates that there are 150,000 Palestinians and Beduin living in that area, while Minister Bennett’s proposal to apply Israeli sovereignty over Area C claims that there are roughly 50,000 Arabs living there.

We will never know the truth without a proper census.

Regavim, which is in favor of the application of sovereignty over Area C, is not opposed to construction benefiting Palestinians who lived in that area since 1993, as long as a proper census is conducted proving that the need has arisen as a result of natural growth, as opposed to illegal transfers of populations from areas A and B.

At the same we believe that it is only fair that if the government approves construction projects for Palestinians in Area C that it should also approve building for the Jewish residents of the area as well.

When Regavim found out, just minutes before the cabinet meeting, that the prime minister would introduce his proposal, we immediately contacted our friends in the Knesset demanding that our conditions (mentioned above) be included as part of the motion. However, it was too late, and the gesture was approved without our addendum.

Since then, Regavim sent a letter to the prime minster and all other government ministers explaining why conducting a census is necessary before the government goes forward allowing building in Area C.

It is crucial to note that immediately following the release of the Fayyad Plan, the Jerusalem Center for Public Affairs’ (JCPA) Pinhas Inbari published a comprehensive article explaining the dangers of the plan and the need for Israel to maintain its “defensible borders” by continuing to exert control over Area C, especially in the Jordan Valley and the mountain tops overlooking Israel’s coastal plain.

That is precisely why Israel must count before it builds. We cannot risk making goodwill gestures, which might create a de-facto Palestinian state in Area C and jeopardize the security of the entire country.

Originally Posted on Jerusalem Post.
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Politics

EU Envoy Lars Faaborg-Andersen: Israel is in Breach of International Law

by Orit ben Tzvi
written by Orit ben Tzvi

“In the first 6 months of 2016 alone 91 EU structures in Area C have been demolished. This is more than all of 2015. Since 2009, approximately 170 EU humanitarian structures have been demolished.” -EU Envoy to Israel Lars Faaborg-Andersen

As the West suffers from a relentless terror campaign, they have decided to band together and focus on the one country that has stood up to the forces of radical Islam. The UN decided to criticise Israel’s housing demolitions focused on destroying the incessant illegal building in the Arab Palestinian sector rampant even in Area C.

The UN and the USA often times ridicules Israeli communities built over the green line as being illegal in international law, but in reality it is the USA, UN, and EU that continuously flaunts internationally agreed upon accords by building withou permit in Area C. These buildings are built with the express purpose to help redefine Area C in favor of the Arab Palestinians.

So with tremendous hipocracy the EU’s Envoy to Israel Lars Faaborg-Andersen stated: “Some 70% of Area C has been taken for exclusive Israeli use. Near all of the remain 30% is private Palestinian property, but is effectively off limits for Palestinian development.” Lars Faaborg-Andersen, “In the first 6 months of 2016 alone 91 EU structures in Area C have been demolished. This is more than all of 2015. Since 2009, approximately 170 EU humanitarian structures have been demolished.”

So the EU builds illegal buildings in Area C, which is under Israeli control as declared in the Oslo Accords that the EU in fact signed onto and then complains that Israel is breaking international law by destroying the very buildings the EU built illegally.  With logic like that  we now know why Europe can’t seem to find a solution to the increasing amount of terror attacks, migrants, and systemic economic stagnation  throughout a good part of the Euro Zone.

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FrontlinesPolitics

Petition: European Union will be required to report on construction in area C

by Micha Gefen
written by Micha Gefen

Regavim is appealing the EU’s immunity from prosecution. Based on the legal opinion of an expert on international law, Regavim is petitioning the Supreme Court to require accountability and reporting for building violations committed by the Union.

A petition filed this week by Regavim to the Supreme Court may put an end to the systematic evasion of the EU from being accountable for violations of building regulations that it has initiated in Area C of the of Judea and Samaria (West Bank). Regavim is requesting from the judges to require the European Union to participate, first as a respondent to the petition to the Supreme Court and to give an account of its construction activities.

regavim-banner

For some years the EU has been trying to take over extensive regions in area C through the establishment of buildings and infrastructures in illegal Bedouin outposts. One of the areas where the EU has made a large concerted effort to invest in is the area surrounding Maale Adumim.

Two weeks ago, Supreme Court justices, Uzi Fogelman, Daphne Barak-Erez and Meni Mazuz rejected the petition presented by Regavim against the Civil Administration in the Judea and Samaria (West Bank) on  ignored breaching of the law. The petition demanded that the Civil Administration implement peremptory demolition orders issued against the 15 illegal structures built by the Union within the limits of the jurisdiction of Mishor Adumim and Kfar Adumim.

The judges rejected the petition by Regavim based on the Civil Administration’s statement that the removal of illegal construction there is already a high priority item, and asked them not to get involved in managing schedules for implementing orders. However, in the decision Justice Fogelman hinted that he is not sure that there is basis for the Union’s immunity from such proceedings.

Regavim decided to take up the challenge laid down by Justice Fogelman, and worked on preparing a new petition concerning other illegal structures built by the Union in areas under the jurisdiction of Kfar Adumim. As for these buildings the Civil Administration announced a year ago that they are a top priority for demolition, however since then no enforcement action against them has been made.

Regavim contends that the long drawn out period of time is “the unreasonable renunciation of enforcing the law”, and seek to place the EU illegal construction activities at the center of the Supreme Court hearings.

The petition is based on the opinion of the expert on international law, Professor Aryeh Reich from Bar Ilan University, who doubts the claim of immunity of the EU. “The EU mission is indeed right that it enjoys immunity from lawsuits, both criminal and civil, and administrative,” says Reich, “but there is an exception in this regard in Article 31 of the Vienna Convention on diplomatic relations, in connection with activities relating to its private land that is located within the territory of the host country.”

Professor Reich explains that international law imposes the obligation of respecting the law on foreign diplomats who enjoy immunity.  “They are obligated to respect the laws and regulations of the country in which they serve, and not to interfere in its internal affairs.”

Another argument raised by the lawyers of Regavim states that immunity is granted to countries only, while the EU has no absolute status as a country. The inclusion of the Union in the petition is made possible in principle because if the petition is accepted by the court and consequently buildings are demolished, the EU will have to absorb EU economic damage.

 

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