web3d_admin, מחבר ב-Regavim

ט' אב התש"פ - 30 July 2020

A photo from within the illegal mosque at the Mercy Gate

We warned, we explained, we reminded the authorities, and we even went to the High Court of Justice. Yet the national disgrace continues, as the Wakf’s takeover of a 1400-year old structure at the Mercy Gate has allowed it to become a breeding ground for terrorism.

Back in February 2019, the Muslim Religious Trust (Wakf) extended their control to an additional section of the Temple Mount and started to operate a new mosque with regular prayers, Islamic study classes, and other religious activities. This move was a blatant breach of the status quo and a further infringement of Jewish rights at Judaism’s holiest site.

After a lengthy legal battle, and despite our protests, the building remains open and active.

Earlier this month, the police turned to the Jerusalem Magistrates Court to issue an order to shutter the site and shut down its operation – precisely as we requested all those months ago. According to the Police Department application, the site serves as a hub for Hamas activity, as it did when first closed by court order over a decade ago.

What about Israeli sovereignty, you ask? What about common sense, law and order?

Well, today we mark the 9th of Av, the day on which the Holy Temples that served as the epicenter of Jewish worship and the ultimate expression of Jewish sovereignty were destroyed. Our nation was exiled for almost 2000 years, and although we have returned home, our sovereignty remains deficient.

We shall continue to mourn, raise our voice, strive for a better reality, and yearn for days of proper Jewish sovereignty – first and foremost on the Temple Mount. Join us, and together, with God’s help, we shall succeed. And as the Talmud (Taanit 30b) states: “Whoever mourns for Jerusalem, will merit and see her future joy.”

כ"א תמוז התש"פ - 13 July 2020

Today (Monday 13 July), Nature and Parks Authority inspectors, accompanied by a police escort, entered the Har Meron Nature Reserve to post court orders on illegal structures built in the protected area.

The inspectors quickly found themselves surrounded by a violent mob of residents of nearby Beit Jann, who pelted them with stones and physically assaulted them. The inspectors were extracted with great difficulty.

The video clip of the incident released by the Nature and Park Authority’s spokesperson shows the inspectors’ vehicle overturned and in flames.

Meir Deutsch, Director General of Regavim reacted to the incident: “The same criminals who have defaced the Har Meron Nature Reserve with illegal construction are now attempting to use violent means to prevent the authorities from doing their job. The physical assault on state officials is an attempt to prevent the enforcement of the State of Israel’s Planning and Construction Law.

“Law enforcement officials should not find themselves in life-threatening situations, and the Israel Police must prosecute these criminals to the full extent of the law. We will monitor the investigation of this incident closely, and demand that those involved are brought to justice. Hooliganism of this kind cannot be rewarded.”

כ' תמוז התש"פ - 12 July 2020

In response to Regavim’s complaint over new environmental hazards in Nahal Alexander, the Ministry of Environmental Protection has placed the blame elsewhere.

Nahal Alexander, which flows from the western side of the Samaria mountain belt through the Sharon area and into the Mediterranean Sea, has been plagued by an ecological disaster — mainly due to sewage coming from areas controlled by the Palestinian Authority.

For a number of years, Regavim has been monitoring pollution of the river. Regavim recently submitted a complaint to the Ministry of Environmental Protection over new environmental hazards that were discovered near Taibe, namely: sewage pollution, blocking of the river stream due to digging work, and construction of an illegal bridge.

Responding to Regavim’s complaints, the Representative for Public Complaints in the Ministry of Environmental Protection claimed that the Ministry is incapable of enforcing the law against these hazards. “The blockage of the river and the construction of the bridge are matters of planning and building, a field in which the Ministry has no authority,” it said in a letter addressed to Regavim. And with regards to sewage pollution, the Ministry claimed that the responsibility lies with the sewage and water corporation ‘Mei Iron’.

“This is an infuriating answer,” said Yachin Zik, Head of Activity for Regavim, “It’s inconceivable that the Ministry of Environmental Protection should dodge the issue, refrain from fixing the problem, and allow the pollution of the river to continue.”

“Instead of shirking responsibility and requesting that Regavim turn to other bodies, it would be better if the Ministry pressure the local planning and building committee to deal with the problem. We are hopeful that Minister Gila Gamliel, who recently assumed her role, will act more firmly against such incidents and instruct her people to take action rather than engaging in tiresome bureaucracy.”

Illegal schools

י"ח טבת התש"פ - 15 January 2020

Illegal PA school built in nature reserve

Many people submitted a petition in the Jerusalem District Court Wednesday against the Palestinian Authority, which built an illegal school within the Nahal Mahoch Nature Reserve, on state land.

The petition was filed in parallel with Defense Minister Naftali Bennett’s announcement this morning that he would create seven new nature reserves in Judea and Samaria.

The site where the illegal construction was carried out spans some 18,000 dunams (4,450 acres) in the northern Judean Desert, extending from Mount Hatzor to the Jordan River and the Dead Sea. The reserve is home to several species of rare flowers such as the Judean iris and the Tulipa agenensis, as well as several rare bird species. The sign posted on the school, which was built with EU funding and other foreign funds, indicates that the structure is owned and owned by the State of Palestine – Ministry of Education and Higher Education.

A photograph was attached to the petition from an official mapping site of the Palestinian Authority, which proves that the PA is well aware that the land is Israeli state land in the heart of a nature reserve.

The petition was resubmitted to the Jerusalem District Court in light of last week’s Supreme Court directive that the proceeding should be held in an administrative court, following the state’s statement that a demolition order was issued in February.

The new petition highlights the disenfranchisement of the enforcement authorities – in light of the fact that since the demolition orders were issued, an entire year has passed, during which the PA was able to complete the construction of the building and accommodate the students for the new school year.

The petitioners are suing the PA for breach of environmental protection laws, invasion of state land, and violation of planning and construction laws.

Meir Deutsch, CEO of the Regavim Movement, said that “Defense Minister Naftali Bennett’s announcement of the declaration of new nature reserves in Judea and Samaria is a welcome and worthwhile step that has not been implemented for years. Bennett’s refreshing change in direction in maintaining Area C shows that there is an important and significant perceptual change here “

“At the same time, the petition demonstrates just how important the actual conservation of nature reserves is, and what the strategic significance of the PA is to take control of its nature reserves and its ambition to do so as far as it wants. Enforcement should look and be done, and one hour earlier,” he added.

This article appeared on Arutz7

ט"ז טבת התש"פ - 13 January 2020

A photo of inside the mosque at Mercy Gate

As if the massive Al-Aksa Mosque wasn’t enough, Israel’s Supreme Court has rejected a petition by the Regavim movement to prevent the construction of a mosque at the Gate of Mercy on the Temple Mount reports 0404. The court claimed that they “don’t get involved” in these types of disputes unless it is regarding “extreme circumstances”.

This is not the first time that the Muslim Waqf has illegally built structures at the expense of ancient relics on the Temple Mount that they eventually converted into mosques. In the past, the Waqf has done the same type of thing at Solomon’s Stables as well and the Huldah Gates.

The Regavim movement appealed to the Supreme Court stressing that the state itself allowed this to happen despite the fact that “the Waqf Council as well as Hamas operatives illegally broke into the compound and operated hostile activities” from there and asked for a court order to close the compound but the state didn’t enact any such measure.

Regavim responded to the decision saying: “Regarding basic laws of human dignity, the Supreme Court has nullified laws passed by the legislative branch. They have nullified the law of ‘Welcoming Committees’ which destroyed flourishing Jewish towns because they would not allow any sort of discrimination in Israel. But when there is discrimination of human dignity on a daily basis against Jews on the Temple Mount, that’s fine as far as they’re concerned. This time, the Supreme Court has decided not to be activists, has abandoned the Jewish right to worship in their holiest place.”

כ' כסלו התש"פ - 18 December 2019

This morning (Wednesday 18 December), the Knesset Arrangements Committee assigned hearings on enforcement of the ‘Kaminןtz Law’ to the Finance Committee. MKs from the United Arab List immediately launched a flurry of tweets framing the decision as a step toward the successful repeal of the law.

MK Osama Saadi of the United Arab List claimed that in last Wednesday’s hearing on the dissolution of the Knesset, understandings were reached with all Knesset factions on a five-year suspension of the Kaminetz Law. “Regavim’s people, who are here again this morning, were called to the Knesset at 2 am last week, and they managed to persuade some MKs to change their position.”

MK Dr. Shlomo Karai (Likud) countered Saadi’s claims: “You tried to stage a coup, and we blocked it.”

As Regavim’s spokesperson notes, only the Minister of Justice has the authority to make substantive amendments to the law. Today’s decision was purely technical; if the Minister of Justice sees fit to initiate a review of the law or any of its elements, this review will be conducted in the Knesset Finance Committee, rather than in its more natural forum, the Interior Committee, which has not been convened because no government has been successfully formed.

Meir Deutsch, Director General of Regavim, commented after today’s hearing: “The Kaminetz Law, one of Prime Minister Netanyahu and the outgoing Likud-led government’s major accomplishments, has been a major force in protecting the land of the Galilee and the Negev, helping slash illegal construction starts in these areas by dozens of percentage points in the short time since its ratification. The decision to reconsider the law’s provisions is the exclusive purview of the Minister of Justice, and we are certain that he will not allow the Likud’s important achievement to be undone, nor will he capitulate to the United Arab List’s manipulations.”

E1: Adumim Region

ט' חשון התש"פ - 07 November 2019

The EU-funded illegal PA outpost of Khan al-Ahmar, east of Jerusalem

For 10 years, the illegal Bedouin outpost of Khan al-Ahmar has been undermining Israel’s rule of law, making a mockery of Israeli sovereignty, enabling the Palestinian Authority to carry out the Fayyad Plan for the establishment of a de facto state on Israeli-controlled sections of Judea and Samaria and galvanizing a coalition of anti-Israel NGOs and foreign interests. Now, Khan al-Ahmar has become an instrument for the evisceration of High Court of Justice rulings and the erosion of the very foundations of Israeli democracy.

On Monday evening, the State Attorney submitted a request to the court on behalf of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, asking to delay a hearing on a petition submitted by Israeli NGO Regavim against the government’s failure to evacuate Khan al-Ahmar. Should the court grant this request, the hearing, scheduled for early December 2019, would be postponed until March 2020.

Khan al-Ahmar is one of more than 170 illegal outposts created by the P.A. and funded by the European Union for the sole purpose of establishing a corridor of P.A.-controlled territory disconnecting Jerusalem from the Jordan Valley and the Dead Sea. These outposts are populated by the most vulnerable, disadvantaged and easily manipulated Bedouin families, stateless pawns in the P.A.’s power play, and follow a very simple, very predictable pattern of development.

First, the P.A. places water tankers at strategic points: along major Israeli highways, on land belonging to or abutting existing Jewish communities, or along lines that create territorial contiguity between major Arab population clusters in Areas A and B of Judea and Samaria. Knowing that Bedouin require little more than a steady supply of water to congregate and remain in any particular spot in this arid region, the P.A. thus attracts the tribes to strategic locations, even when those locations pose serious hazards to the health and livelihood of the Bedouin.

The next step is the construction of a school. This, too, attracts population—and makes for devastating publicity if Israel’s Civil Administration knocks it down. From this point, the battle of narratives begins. The “village” quickly rises up, constructed almost entirely of prefab housing units bearing the symbol of the European Union. It is given a name and equipped with a fictitious history. An army of internationally financed “do-gooders” takes up the cause of the unfortunate Bedouin who are “threatened” with relocation by the Israeli authorities—to new, modern neighborhoods on Israeli state-owned land, along with cash payouts and other forms of compensation.

The P.A., the European Union and a host of “humanitarian aid” groups take to the High Court of Justice to block any and all compromise solutions, forcing the helpless Bedouin to remain in unbearable conditions in the illegal outposts, in the service of the P.A.’s geopolitical machinations.

More than a decade ago, Regavim began monitoring, mapping, reporting on and petitioning against Khan al-Ahmar and its sister outposts. It took years to force the Israeli government to take notice of the strategic nature of these seemingly innocuous Bedouin squatters camps, and even more years to convince the government to demand that the European Union stop funding this illegal activity.

After six rounds of Supreme Court petitions, each of which resulted in clearly worded decisions regarding the illegality of Khan al-Ahmar and the necessity to relocate the Bedouin families living there, the only thing standing in the way is the Israeli government. Regavim strenuously objects to the delay of the hearing on the government’s inaction.

“This is the sixth petition we have submitted in the matter of Khan al-Ahmar,” said Meir Deutsch, director general of Regavim. “The State of Israel should have cleared the encampment as far back as 2009, when the Supreme Court handed down its first decision on the matter. We believe that further procrastination eviscerates the ‘final’ judgment handed down by the High Court after the fourth round of hearings. The government’s behavior in this matter is an affront to the stature of the court and harms the national interest.”

One year ago, Netanyahu publicly declared that Khan al-Ahmar would be evacuated in a matter of days. Since then, every passing day is one more day of shame for the rule of law in Israel.

ז' תשרי התש"פ - 06 October 2019

This morning (October 6), Shaadi Abu Alkiyan of Hura (28) succumbed to wounds resulting from a collision with a wandering camel last week on the main road to his hometown. At the same time as this fatal accident, two other Israelis were wounded in another car crash with a camel near Ovda. Regavim places the blame for these tragedies squarely on the shoulders of the Ministry of Agriculture’s Veterinary Services Division.

The Veterinary Services Division of Israel’s Ministry of Agriculture has failed to enforce the “Camel Law,” which requires registration of ownership of all camels in the Negev, and identification of each camel with a subcutaneous electronic chip. These regulations were formulated in order to prevent camel owners from allowing their animals to roam freely, and to create legal responsibility for any damages caused by unrestrained or improperly attended camels.

Legislation of the “Camel Law” began after David Cohen of Retamim was killed in a collision with a camel in December 2014. In reaction to the accident, Regavim and the bereaved residents of Retamim, who were joined by MKs Betzalel Smotrich and Eitan Cabel, spearheaded efforts to combat the scourge of roaming camels.

Regavim presented alarming Police Department data at a Knesset hearing on the proposed legislation: Every year, more than 1,000 citizens register complaints about wandering camels on the roads of southern Israel, but time after time, the authorities are unable to identify the owners, levy fines, or impose legal sanctions that would deter owners from further reckless negligence that continues to take its toll.

The Camel Law passed its final readings in the Knesset in June 2018, at which time the Veterinary Services Division was given six months to put in place the necessary mechanisms to enforce the law before it became fully activated, in February 2019. Although the Minister of Agriculture, Uri Ariel, was a proponent of the law, the Veterinary Service Division objected to the legislative process from the outset, and rejected the electronic-chip identification system.

“Once again, this is a senseless and unnecessary loss of life. The writing was on the wall – and written in blood on the roads,” says Amichai Yogev, Regavim’s Field Coordinator for the Southern Region. “We have lodged complaints against this particular herd more than once. Although the Ministry of Agriculture’s Pitzuach Unit and the Green Police are extremely motivated and poised for action, without the electronic identification tags, no enforcement activity will be able to achieve its stated goals. Abu Alkiyan’s death is the responsibility of the Veterinary Services Division, the most recent in the long list of victims in the past number of years. Regavim will continue to fight this failure in order to prevent the next fatality. We must not allow this carnage to continue.”

This article appeared on Israel365 News

כ"ג אלול התשע"ט - 23 September 2019

Regavim has uncovered a racket in which the Bedouin are paid off not to damage property they wrongly claim as their own.

Israel’s government pays millions of shekels to Bedouin under the guise of “school security” in a massive protection racket, an investigation by Israeli NGO Regavim revealed.

Regavim, which focuses on land issues, ‘followed the money’ through the judicial system, and forced the Bedouin municipalities of southern Israel to admit that every year, millions of shekels classified as “school security” expenditures simply vanish into thin air.

But vast swaths of land slated for development and construction within the municipal boundaries of the Negev’s Bedouin towns have languished for decades under the threat of violence by the self-proclaimed “owners.”

Although the Israeli government does not officially recognize these discredited ownership claims, when Bedouin municipalities build public-use structures such as schools, kindergartens and health clinics, they do so on land that has been untouched due to these phony ownership claims – and pay huge sums under the guise of “security services.”

In effect, the government is paying these “owners” not to damage the structures erected on land for which they have no legal right of ownership.

Regavim requested a breakdown of expenditures for school security in Bedouin municipalities. These budgetary items were then compared with the same data provided by Jewish municipalities in the Gaza-border region, which is classified as a high-security area.

The Naveh Midbar Bedouin municipality, which has 21 schools in its jurisdiction, spent nearly NIS 6.8 million for “security” in 2016, and a similar amount in 2017. In 2018, that expenditure rose to NIS 7.3 million.

The Al Kasum Regional Council, which provided the budgetary data we requested only after we were forced to submit a Freedom of Information petition through the courts, is home to 22 schools, and its security budget for 2016 stood at some NIS 9 million. In 2017 the security budget grew to NIS 10.5 million, and in 2018 it stood a NIS 11.7 million.

How do these sums compare with the security outlays in Gaza-border Jewish communities? The Merhavim Regional Council’s 10 schools were protected by a mere NIS 965,000 in 2016; the cost of security remained unchanged in 2017.

The Bnei Shimon Regional Council, which provides security for 7 schools, spent NIS 690,000 in 2016, and only NIS 665,000 in 2017.

The Ministry of Education does not cover security costs for educational institutions in local council jurisdictions; these sums are covered by the Israel Police.

The Ministry of Interior Security, for its part, clarified that it does not employ any security personnel in the Naveh Midbar or Al Kasum Municipalities; no such position or job description exists.

The Police Department’s response to Regavim’s inquiry further clarified that the Ministry contributes hundreds of thousands of shekels per year toward the security budget of the older, more well-established Bedouin towns of Hura and Lakiya, but these outlays do not hold a candle to the astronomical sums spent in Naveh Midbar and Al Kasum.

Regavim discovered this isn’t the end of the saga. On-site inspections in the schools of Naveh Midbar and Al Kasum proved that there is no security at all. The gates are wide open, anyone and everyone can come and go at will; no guard posts, no guards.

The security budget for each of these institutions is NIS 30,000 per month – whether there are 1000 students, or 80 students. The municipalities explained that this is spent for “night-time security,” a recognized expense only for dormitory schools (which do not exist in the Negev Bedouin sector).

“These findings indicate that the municipalities in question are paying “internal protection money” to the people who claim ownership of the land on which the schools were built,” says Amichai Yogev, Regavim’s Field Coordinator for the Southern Region.

“The official documents provided by the municipalities do not answer the real question – where is all of this money going – but they do illustrate beyond a shadow of doubt that these inflated budgets are a mechanism of unparalleled, hard-core corruption.”

“According to data provided by the Central Bureau of Statistics, over 95% of these municipalities’ budgets is funded by the government through a variety of ministries, and they are classified in the lowest cluster of the socioeconomic scale,” Yogev emphasizes.

“The bottom line is that the money that could and should be used for the benefit and welfare of the students is ending up in someone’s pocket. Someone is enjoying a fat payoff, at the expense of the very real and very critical needs of the community as a whole. The Israel Police must conduct a full and thorough investigation, and bring the guilty parties to justice.”

This article appeared on World Israel News

"Masafer Yatta"

י"ג כסלו התשע"ט - 21 November 2018

The State admits: Illegal construction for Arabs was whitewashed– but policy has changed

In the course of a High Court of Justice hearing on Regavim’s petition against the illegal Arab city growing in the Judean Desert, the State’s attorney admitted that in the past Arabs had been allowed to build without permits or planning approval.

On 20 November 2018, Israel’s High Court of Justice heard Regavim’s petition regarding an illegal Arab city growing on the grounds of IDF Training Range 917. The city, made up of 1,700 illegal structures – homes, schools, clinics, mosques – covers tens of thousands of dunams. The infrastructure that supports it all is spread over dozens of kilometers, thanks to generous funding provided by the European Union, the United Arab Emirates, Abu Dhabi, and other foreign interests.

The bottom line: A new Arab city has been born in an area of critical strategic importance, creating a contiguous Arab pale of settlement that stretches from the Arad Valley through Har Hebron and eastern Gush Etzion.

Foreign funding for illegal construction in 917

Background:

In the 1980s, a few Bedouin families lived in temporary structures that dotted the landscape of IDF Training Ground 917. Without any legal foundation or precedent, the Civil Administration demarcated a number of clusters and declared them”no go zones:” No law enforcement steps would be taken against structures within these areas, despite the fact that they had no building permits or municipal plans as required by law.

As if this weren’t bad enough, Regavim has documented more than 500 additional illegal structures built outside of these demarcated zones in the last few years – structures that “connect the dots” between the original clusters and create an uninterrupted band of Arab territory that stretches from the Arad Valley through Har Hebron and eastern Gush Etzion.

The State’s representative admitted in court that the “arrangements” that had been in force, which allowed illegal construction to continue unhindered, “constitute an historic reality, but do not reflect the government’s current policy regarding illegal construction. Nonetheless, because of the ‘seniority’ of the structures in question, the State contends that construction and regulation should be allowed to proceed.” Despite the irrefutable evidence presented by Regavim to the contrary, the State’s attorney argued that the Civil Administration is carrying out law enforcement procedures “according to its priorities,” outside of the demarcated non-enforcement zones.

Questions without answers:

“The State decided in the past that there is no law within these clusters – but even outside of their boundaries there is absolutely no enforcement activity,” said Attorney Avi Segal of Regavim. “At issue is an increase of hundreds if not thousands of percentage points in the rate of illegal construction. The State should be required to explain by what authority it allowed this chaos to begin in the first place. Now, the government sends its attorney to court to announce that someone has been hired to formulate a plan – but he is unable to say who this “someone” is, when this plan will be implemented, or where it will be implemented. The State has not demonstrated that any concrete steps toward cleaning up this mess have been taken. Whereas the court handed down very strict timetables for resolving the matter of a few paltry meters in structures that were built without permits elsewhere, in this case we are talking about 1700 illegal structures – and counting.”

The hearing, in a nutshell:

At the hearing, Chief Justice Hayut reprimanded the State’s attorney, who had stated over a year ago that “progress” had been made – but since then, has not produced a time-frame or operational plans. “The regulation team that is eventually chosen through the tender process now underway will be tasked with planning in any number of locations. What are the specific timetables regarding this particular area? How is it possible that the State does not have a plan of action?”

On the other hand, the Chief Justice required Regavim to add additional respondents to the petition: “There is no argument that many hundreds of illegal structures are involved,” said Chief Justice Hayut. “Residents of these illegal structures must be included as respondents to Regavim’s petition.” Attorney Segal explained that the residents have managed to avoid being served with papers, which were posted on the illegal structures instead. Furthermore, Regavim’s earlier attempts to serve residents with papers, as the court has required, were met with threats of physical violence.

Looking ahead:

In one month, the court will reconvene to consider the State’s plans for regulation and law enforcement, and Regavim will be there to continue the fight to protect Israel’s land resources.

Author: web3d_admin