WhatsappThe Jewish people voted for the most proudly Jewish and nationalist Israeli government ever to stop injustices like this. The IDF’s civil administration uprooted this Jewish vineyard, planted four years ago, even though the Arab petitioners did not provide any proof of ownership of the land.
We have come a long way to achieve this moment, after decades of destroying Jewish buildings, agriculture and communities. Now, we hope our new government puts a stop to this terrible policy of discrimination while denying our rights to our ancestral homeland.
For decades the political system and IDF have ignored the massive illegal land grab and illegal building in Judea & Samaria by Arabs, with the support of the EU and European countries, yet they destroy Jewish properties, buildings and agriculture.
The Israeli population wants this injustice in Judea & Samaria to end. It’s not even that those policies helped bring peace any closer. They didn’t. Hence, the Jewish people in Israel voted for the most proudly Jewish, nationalist government ever in our short 75 year history.
Press Release from Regavim – Protecting our Land
*Only 300 meters – and a world apart: The Civil Administration’s policy of discriminatory enforcement*
*This morning, the Civil Administration uprooted a Jewish vineyard near Yitzhar, only 300 meters away from an illegal mosque for which demolition orders were issued 15 years ago. Regavim: This is the first challenge that Smotrich must address on his first day on the job. *
The Civil Administration – under the auspices of the Ministry of Defense – uprooted a vineyard near the Yitzhar community this morning, following a petition submitted by Palestinian Arabs to Israel’s High Court of Justice. Despite the fact that no Arab ownership of the land on which the vineyard was planted, some four years ago, has ever been proven, the Jewish owners of the vineyard received a “Disruptive Land-Use Order.” This unique military order allows removal of agriculture, even when no conflicting claim of ownership is submitted or proven – and is used by the Civil Administration exclusively against Jews.
Only 300 meters away from the uprooted orchard, in Area C on the outskirts of the nearby Arab town Burin, stands an illegal mosque for which the Civil Administration issued a demolition order over 15 years ago. The Regavim Movement appealed to the High Court of Justice to force the Civil Administration to enforce the demolition order, and the government gave its solemn commitment to uphold the law – but the illegal mosque stands, undisturbed, to this very day – and dozens of additional illegal structures have been built around it in the interim.
Regavim’s spokesperson called upon Minister Betzalel Smotrich to tackle this absurdity on his very first full day in office: “The Disruptive Land-Use Order is a draconian measure that has been applied in a wildly discriminatory fashion, and should be struck down without delay. This was the conclusion reached years ago by the Special Commission headed by Justice Edmond Levy, and we call upon Minister Smotrich to take this long-overdue step.”
Moshe Shmueli, Regavim’s Field Coordinator for Judea and Samaria, added: “For 15 years, the Civil Administration has failed to enforce the law against nearby illegal Palestinian construction – despite its commitment to the High Court of Justice. On the other hand, it has taken swift, even brutal enforcement action and uprooted a Jewish vineyard, costing the owners hundreds of thousands of shekels in losses. The rule of law must be equal, or it cannot be called the rule of law. This morning’s demolition is one more example of how far off track the Civil Administration has strayed.”
