Dear Friends,
Something ground-breaking happened here this week. The Knesset passed the “Regularization Law”, which effectively enables expropriating private Palestinian land in the West Bank in order to legalize illegal construction in settlements and outposts. This is the Knesset’s most blatant interference in the Occupied Territories, which lay outside the borders of the sovereign State of Israel. This legislation infringes on the private property of Palestinians who are not citizens of Israel, who lack political power in Israel.
The law clearly contradicts international law; it was opposed by numerous justice officials, including Israel’s Attorney General, who determined that it is illegal. Even the prime minister spoke of the law’s international repercussions and warned that it could bring Israel to the doorsteps of the International Criminal Court at The Hague. Honestly, even those who support settlements should have opposed this law. How can they explain to themselves that the Knesset legislated a law to take land that is not inside Israel from people who are not Israeli citizens, simply due to the fact that they are Palestinian?
We refuse to remain silent. We are already drafting a petition to the High Court with other organizations and have requested that the Attorney General and Military Advocate General immediately delay implementation of the law.
I am aware of the discourse that has arisen in recent weeks against petitioning the court; however we cannot stand idly by. The argument to refrain from petitioning the High Court asserts that the government should be forced to deal with the consequences of its actions. We find this argument irrelevant because there are human lives at stake, and because peoples’ private property will be destroyed or taken away.
While the Knesset passes a law that threatens to expropriate private Palestinian property, I believe that as a human rights organization we do not need to consider politics, but rather defend rights. In recent weeks we appeared before the High Court to defend the rights of Palestinians in two petitions that ACRI has been leading for years – one is against the expulsion of residents from villages in Firing Zone 918, where the state has illegally declared a military firing zone; the second petition concerns threats to expel residents of Khirbet Zanuta, in the South Hebron Hills.
A new line has now been crossed, and we remain committed to protecting human rights. The Expropriation Law, as we think it should be called, intends to legalize illegal construction, but the law itself cannot be legitimized.
Yours,
Sharon
Adv. Sharon Abraham-Weiss
Executive Director
The Association for Civil Rights in Israel
