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Israel to triple demolition rate for illegal Bedouin construction
2010 should see 700 illegal structures destroyed and the plowing of 9,000 dunams of land to prevent new construction.
By Yanir Yagna | Feb.18, 2010 | 2:47 AM
The Interior Ministry, the Israel Lands Administration and the southern district of the Israel Police have jointly resolved to triple the demolition rate of illegal construction in the scattered Bedouin communities in the Negev. The decision came at a meeting about a month ago.
According to data obtained by Haaretz, 2009 saw an increase over the previous year in the demolition of illegal Bedouin homes and efforts to prevent illegal Bedouin construction. Last year, 254 structures were destroyed.
In 2008, the figure was 225 illegal structures. Sources at the joint agency meeting said illegal Bedouin construction in the Negev is not only continuing despite these enforcement efforts but is even increasing. This year should see 700 illegal structures destroyed and the deep plowing of 9,000 dunams of land to prevent new construction.
Ibrahim Al-Wakili, who heads the Regional Council of Unrecognized Villages, warned of an explosive situation if demolition even doubles.
"The Bedouin in unrecognized villages don't constitute any kind of obstacle to the development of the Negev, and the state must involve us just as [it does] other residents of the Negev," Al-Wakili said. "Even if they triple the demolitions," he added, "it won't help, if the state has no solution for people who for the past 60 years have suffered neglect. At least they shouldn't begin an intensified demolition campaign. The village residents cannot be put in a situation in which there is just demolition. It won't help. From the moment you press on the balloon too much, ultimately something happens. We call on the prime minister and all of those responsible for the demolitions not to bring people to the brink of despair. This is not healthy for any of the parties [involved]." .....
Israel to triple demolition rate for illegal Bedouin construction - Israel News | Haaretz Daily Newspaper
Israel panel backs legalizing West Bank outposts
July 9, 2012 RSS Feed Print
By AMY TEIBEL, Associated Press
JERUSALEM (AP) A government-commissioned report released Monday has recommended that Israel legalize dozens of unsanctioned West Bank settlement outposts, a move that would defy international opposition to settling land Palestinians want for a future state.
The report, written by a committee with pro-settler sympathies, also reaffirmed Israel's longstanding position, at odds with most of the world, that the West Bank is not occupied territory and therefore Israel has the legal right to settle it.
If endorsed by the government, the recommendations could give Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu ammunition to support new settlement activity and fend off pressure from a Supreme Court that has ordered the government to take action against the existing outposts.
Netanyahu welcomed the panel's work and said he would bring its conclusions to a special forum that would decide whether to adopt them. Recommendations include annulling past Supreme Court rulings and legal orders to facilitate settlement construction.
Jewish settlements are at the heart of a three-year-old impasse in Mideast peace efforts. The Palestinians say they will not resume negotiations until Israel freezes settlement construction.
The outposts are unsanctioned enclaves that Jewish settlers began erecting in the 1990s to sidestep Israel's commitment to stop building new settlements. There are dozens of outposts, in addition to about 120 full-fledged settlements...
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...Palestinian spokesman Ghassan Khatib immediately denounced the report's conclusions.
"This is in complete contradiction with international law and with specific resolutions of the United Nations ... and in contradiction with the official policy of almost every single country in the world," Khatib said. "We also think that such positions contradict the international efforts to establish peace based on two states, one of them in the territories occupied in 1967."
Netanyahu set up the committee in January to examine land use issues in the West Bank after concluding that a 2005 report on unauthorized settlement outposts was tainted by leftist bias. The author of the report, which had been commissioned by then-Prime Minister Ariel Sharon, a staunch settlement champion, was a former state prosecutor who ran for parliament on the dovish Meretz Party's ticket after leaving the civil service.
The new committee was headed by former Supreme Court Justice Edmond Levy, who opposed Israel's 2005 Gaza Strip withdrawal. It was considered sympathetic to setters and was expected to issue the recommendation to legalize outposts.
Although they skirted official approval procedures, government officials knew the outposts were being built and supplied them with the infrastructure hookups and military protection given to sanctioned settlements. About 100 outposts, home to several thousand Israelis, dot the West Bank, in addition to more than 120 full-fledged settlements.
The Israeli government had promised the U.S. in 2003 to tear down two dozen outposts built a decade ago but it has never honored that commitment.
The 2005 report on outposts by Talia Sasson was sharply critical of government complicity in their construction and noted that dozens were built on Palestinian-owned land, in violation of Israeli law. Israel's Supreme Court recently rebuffed the Netanyahu government's efforts to preserve one of the outposts, and it is due to be demolished next month. A second outpost was evacuated this month in spite of Netanyahu's efforts to avert the settlers' eviction.
The report made public on Monday proposed that procedures be streamlined to legalize the outposts and allow for new settlement construction. Committee member Alan Baker, a former legal adviser to the Foreign Ministry who is now a fellow at a conservative think-tank, said the outposts were not authorized because of international pressure and urged their approval.
"Nothing here was inherently illegal," he said.
Israel panel backs legalizing West Bank outposts - US News and World Report
If people wish to truly understand the cultural racism that exists in Israeli policy and politics they will examine the above articles with a careful eye. I Have provided links so that the complete articles can be accessed.
To summarize the situation that we are dealing with we must recognize that we are dealing with two different groups of illegal settlements. one Jewish and the other Bedouin. They are not treated equally, the only real difference between the two is that one is of the Jewish Culture and the other is of the Muslim culture. They both concern themselves with Israeli citizens that serve in the IDF and pay taxes. The differences as I stated earlier are ones of politics, policy, and racism.
The Israeli Settlements are illegal under Israeli Law as determined by the Israeli Supreme Court because they are built on land that the Court has ruled is Palestinian. Yet they are provided with the necessary infrastructure, water, electric, and sewage, that are necessary. Also they are defended by the IDF. Also the Netanyahu administration is seeking to overturn the Court's ruling and indeed they are seeking to expand the settlements.
The only reasons that the Bedouin Settlements are illegal are 1) they are not Jewish and 2) they are not given the necessary permits to build permanent structures. They are not provided with the necessary infrastructure in order to provide decent living conditions and the only time they see the IDF is when it is there to demolish their homes. The Netanyahu Administration does not seek to help or work with these people. Indeed the only time these people hear from the government is when it wants to take more of their land or it wants to charge them for the demolition and destruction of their property.
Can anyone give me a good reason why these people are treated so differently by their own government. As far as I can see the only reason is religious identity, and THAT SMACKS OF CULTURAL RACISM !!!