Migron is a small Israeli community situated in the hill country about five miles north-east of Jerusalem. It was established back in 2002 as small village within easy commuting distance from Jerusalem, and has a population of about 500 people. Some would refer to the small community as an 'outpost'.
Shortly after Migron’s construction, Migron became a target of Peace Now, who started a legal campaign on behalf of several 'Palestinian' Arabs who claimed that their families owned the land upon which Migron sits. According to the Arabs, the land had been given to them by King Hussein of Jordan.
The residents of Migron claimed that they had legally purchased the land, and showed paperwork recording the sale and giving them legal title. The resident's attorneys made the argument all of Judea and Samaria were illegally occupied by Jordan between 1948 to 1967, and that therefore King Hussein had no right to 'give' land to anyone.
Israel's Supreme Court chose to ignore both the history of the area and the villager's legal paperwork showing ownership and ruled in favor of the Arabs. The Court ordered the army to remove the Israeli inhabitants and destroy all structures.
After several appeals which saw three homes demolished,a final 'death sentence' was pronounced on Migron on August 2, 2011, with the court ruling that Migron must be demolished and the inhabitants removed by March 31, 2012.
What happened next is poetic justice.
The Arabs and their supporters in Peace Now got greedy and filed a lawsuit in the Jerusalem Magistrate’s Court, demanding that the Israeli government compensate them for the years during which Migron existed on what they had said was their land.
The Magistrate’s Court, just as a matter of routine, asked that the Arab plaintiffs provide their proof of ownership to the court.
Following that,the Arabs, who had managed to skate through Israel's Supreme Court without being asked this simple question suddenly withdrew their lawsuit.
Because the Arab plaintiffs had no proof of ownership and refused to provide any explanation of why they had withdrawn their suit, the Magistrate’s Court stopped the demolition of Migron's homes and the eviction of the families that live there.
This was fairly major news in Israel and a huge embarrassment for the Supreme Court, especially at a time when the Israeli government is crafting new legislation on new procedures in how Supreme Court justice are selected . The only explanation the Court gave was that “The High Court does not debate evidence.”
The entire fiasco sheds a great deal of light on the necessity of the pending legislation curbing the foreign funding of Israel's Left wing Organizations.
Peace Now is funded almost entirely by the EU and grants from places like the Tides Foundation and the New Israel Fund in America.The UK alone, for example, gave Peace Now £310,000 (about $500,000) in the period of 2008-11.
What they've done with the money, among other things, is to challenge the existence of any community in Israel they oppose as a 'settlement' in court with the idea of harassing Israelis who live in Judea and Samaria and flooding Israeli courts with bogus lawsuits no matter how weak the evidence is, all designed to make it more difficult for the Israeli government to build housing and infrastructure.
In the recent past they tried exactly the same strategy they used in Migron - better known as lawfare - in unsuccessful attempts to have the Israeli communities of of Kiryat Netafim and the Jerusalem suburbs of Ma'aleh Adumim and Har Homa destroyed and the land turned over to Israel's enemies. Needless to say, they have never done anything to challenge the widespread illegal 'Palestinian' construction in Judea and Samaria or in East Jerusalem. In fact they've even attempted to intervene when the City of Jerusalem has attempted to demolish unsafe and illegal structures built by Arabs without permits or any compliance with building and safety codes that were actually hazards to adjacent structures.
Given the state of Middle East peace, one could be forgiven for considering Peace Now's activities as borderline treason.
For now, their attempt to throw their fellow Jews out of their homes in Migron has been foiled, appropriately, by their own greed and zeal to accomplish it at all costs. Hopefully, when Israel limits foreign funding for groups like Peace Now their contemptible efforts to wage lawfare against their own country will be curtailed.
Meanwhile, their fellow citizens can do what Israelis do best,build. Let a thousand bulldozers bloom!
Could not agree more with your last paragraph. I say to Israeli Jews, "build baby, build!!"
ReplyDeleteGiven the fact that Israeli/Palestinian conflict has not been settled, why do the media and other powers that be howl in breathless rage when Israel attempts to build the necessary structures to house its growing population but when the Palestinians build on disputed land they turn a blind eye? Could it be that these powers that be are interested in something other than a just peace to the conflict? Perhaps it is not a just peace they want but in fact they want the destruction of Israel. I think this is highly likely.
America needs to make an attempt similar to the one Israel is making to limit foreign funding for political groups. America has its own versions of Peace Now. Entities like Code Pink, ANSWER, and Green Peace come to mind just for starters. I'm sure there's many more.
Its interesting to note that Russia and China don't have groups like these. Can it be because those nations vigorously prosecute such groups who pose an existential threat to their country and such groups are never able to get the space to grow. Perhaps America could learn something from studying how these countries act. If you want to be the best, study the best!!
Israel is seeking to limit foreign funding of NGOs. They have apparently learned some lessons. Hope America learns too.
There is much America can learn from studying Israel and how it behaves. Israel has genocidal enemies on its borders and yet it has managed to build for itself a modern, free, and functioning society. This is one of the most amazing accomplishments in the history of civilization. Perhaps instead of hating Israel Americans could instead try and emulate Israel.
I'm glad to see that yet another attempt to delegitmise the Jew's right to build in their homeland has come to nought.
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