Ophra
08-18-2004, 09:36 AM
Of law and infrastructure
The right wing is up in arms over Sharon’s proposal to disconnect the illegal outposts from electricity and water supplies. However they have no problems with the fact that they are disconnected from the law.
Jonathan Ariel
The right wing raised a storm of protest last week, after learning that the PM was mulling cutting utilities supplies from the illegal outposts. Some of the more virulent spokespeople even called it “an anti Semitic proposalâ€, saying “no one would dream of cutting off water and electricity from Beith Hanoun in retaliation for Kassam attacksâ€.
The truth is somewhat different. There are a fair number of villages in Israel that have no access to any infrastructure, no roads, electricity or water. They are virtual citizens, living in places that do not officially exist.
The one thing they have in common in that they are Arabs, mostly Bedouin. While it is true that some of the villages in question were built illegally, others have been there for many years, some even pre-dating the state. However because they were never registered in the Tabu (land registry office), and did not fit into the various master plans drawn up over the years. Others are on land expropriated by the state, sometimes dubiously, and the residents have refused to abandon their lands.
Whatever the reason, the bottom line is that as far as the State of Israel is concerned, they are “unrecognized settlementsâ€, and simply do not exist. They have no access to any infrastructure or social services. Their residents often have no addresses in their IDs, since the place they live does not officially exist.
Why illegal Jewish settlements in Judea and Samaria do not merit the same treatment that illegal Arab settlements do defies logic. Yes, Israel is a Jewish state, the Jewish national homeland. This does not mean that its Jewish residents are entitled to a blanket exemption from answering to the law, although it seems that there are quite a few people around who think precisely that.
Unequal, unfair and biased application of the law against Arabs is no less a form of bigotry and racism than the same against Jews Bigotry is bigotry, and racism is racism, and they are all wrong, irrespective of whether the targets are Arabs, Jews, Blacks, or Martians. If unrecognized Arab settlements can be denied access to infrastructure, so can illegal Jewish ones. Anyone saying differently is a bigot and racist. Jewish settlement of Israel is an important virtue of our national life and history. However the mandate has been gone for over fifty years, we are the sovereign power, and its time Jewish nationalists realized that every time they make a laughing stock of the law, they are diminishing what they hold most dear, Jewish sovereignty. Sovereignty is not just rights and privileges, it also entails duties, responsibilities and obligations. Impartial justice, respect for the law and its equal upholding is one of them, and the sooner everyone in this country realizes this the better.
http://www.maarivenglish.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=article&articleID=10711
The right wing is up in arms over Sharon’s proposal to disconnect the illegal outposts from electricity and water supplies. However they have no problems with the fact that they are disconnected from the law.
Jonathan Ariel
The right wing raised a storm of protest last week, after learning that the PM was mulling cutting utilities supplies from the illegal outposts. Some of the more virulent spokespeople even called it “an anti Semitic proposalâ€, saying “no one would dream of cutting off water and electricity from Beith Hanoun in retaliation for Kassam attacksâ€.
The truth is somewhat different. There are a fair number of villages in Israel that have no access to any infrastructure, no roads, electricity or water. They are virtual citizens, living in places that do not officially exist.
The one thing they have in common in that they are Arabs, mostly Bedouin. While it is true that some of the villages in question were built illegally, others have been there for many years, some even pre-dating the state. However because they were never registered in the Tabu (land registry office), and did not fit into the various master plans drawn up over the years. Others are on land expropriated by the state, sometimes dubiously, and the residents have refused to abandon their lands.
Whatever the reason, the bottom line is that as far as the State of Israel is concerned, they are “unrecognized settlementsâ€, and simply do not exist. They have no access to any infrastructure or social services. Their residents often have no addresses in their IDs, since the place they live does not officially exist.
Why illegal Jewish settlements in Judea and Samaria do not merit the same treatment that illegal Arab settlements do defies logic. Yes, Israel is a Jewish state, the Jewish national homeland. This does not mean that its Jewish residents are entitled to a blanket exemption from answering to the law, although it seems that there are quite a few people around who think precisely that.
Unequal, unfair and biased application of the law against Arabs is no less a form of bigotry and racism than the same against Jews Bigotry is bigotry, and racism is racism, and they are all wrong, irrespective of whether the targets are Arabs, Jews, Blacks, or Martians. If unrecognized Arab settlements can be denied access to infrastructure, so can illegal Jewish ones. Anyone saying differently is a bigot and racist. Jewish settlement of Israel is an important virtue of our national life and history. However the mandate has been gone for over fifty years, we are the sovereign power, and its time Jewish nationalists realized that every time they make a laughing stock of the law, they are diminishing what they hold most dear, Jewish sovereignty. Sovereignty is not just rights and privileges, it also entails duties, responsibilities and obligations. Impartial justice, respect for the law and its equal upholding is one of them, and the sooner everyone in this country realizes this the better.
http://www.maarivenglish.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=article&articleID=10711