bs"d
Please read this article written by Elyakim Haetzni. I took the liberty to translate it into English and I am posting it on my blog and sending it to many MK's, Rabbanim, Jewish media and activist list. (please forgive any errors in the translation. I have included the link to the original article in Hebrew. I welcome any corrections)
September 10th, 2012
11 years the Deutsch's heard no complaints regarding working their land. Then came the anarchists and the complaints began. After that prosecution. The story is told to me by Moshe Deutsch. Deutsch was one of the founders of Susia, located in the Hebron Hills, over 30 years ago,
Seventeen years ago, Deutsch cleared away uncultivated land and rocks for agricultural use, he and his children (and he has 10 bli ayin hara 7 of them boys). They toiled hard digging up the ground, 45 acres and year after year for 11 years planted wheat and barley. For all that time, until 2006 for 11 years, the Deutsch's did not hear any complaints or appeals from anyone regarding working this land (which is not in no-mans land but next to a junction near the main road), In 2006 they planted a vineyard on half of the land. 3,300 trees Cabernet Sauvignon with an investment of 180,000 shekel.
And the anarchists came. The usual cocktail of enemies of Israel along with strangers, among them Japanese, Spaniards and Americans. Any other normal government would have thrown them out after their initial stirring up of trouble. Rather,the government of Israel found it ok to unleash them out on the settlers. Among them were elderly Arabs, who can "claim" to remember that his land was "stolen" from somebody. Now the rest of the script you can write yourself. Provocation and incitement, police, complaint and testimony from Moshe Deutsch that testified that nobody claimed the land. After that a Supreme Court case whereby the Arab petitioners presented a log entry from tax records on a totally different place far away. In this Supreme Court petition, the main respondent is the Civil Defense Administration. According to the law, [until recently changed, robin] one who works unclaimed, abandoned land for 10 years uncontested acquires the rights to the land.
In this case, the Arab petitioners had no proof that the land was theirs even 11 years before Deutsch held the land.
In this situation, one would expect that the Civil Administration would at least be neutral in this land dispute between 2 civil parties now pending before the Supreme Court of Justice. But this was not the case. Like in similar cases, the Civil Administration sided with the Arab petitioners. Deutsch's Power of Attorney even heard the representative of the Civil Administration brief the arab petitioners as per which documents to show the Supreme Court.
But this was just the beginning.
While this hearing was pending, the Civil Administration issued a one sided order to grant the Arab petitioner who never planted any vines, half of the property. Also it was determined that the Deutsches were only permitted to work the area allotted to him, the vineyard 1 hour a day and no more. Deutsch noted that the vineyard was just a few months old and this restriction was basically a death warrant for the vineyard.
Yet when the hostile Civil Administration saw the diligence and efforts of Deutsch to somehow save the vineyard, they came out with a new evil decree, worse than the first. "An order to remove anything that disturbs". This is Sodomite legislation typical of Sodomite legislation looking to embitter the lives of the enemy. Please note that the matter was pending a Supreme Court decision and yet they arbitrarily allowed themselves to arrogantly eliminate Jewish claim from the disputed territory...not because the Deutsch's were illegally occupying since the matter was still being contested but rather that his presence constituted a "disturbance". Like one chases away an annoying fly...Disturbing who? Disturbing what? Why is it a disturbance? It is not surprising that no one invited Mr. Deutsch to state his case before issuing the removal order. Maybe he would actually have evidence to substantiate his claims. Instead, they ruled "You're a nuisance? Go away!"
My dear friends, my fellow settlers. This is our position, our strength and rights today in Judea and Samaria.
When the order regarding land usage that "is a disturbance" came out, the vineyard was two and a half years old. In much frustration, the Deutsch's Power of Attorney searched for any legal forum that screamed out "bloody murder".
They turned to the "Bet Mishpat Shalom", the Jerusalem Magistrate Court, to receive a statement regarding Deutsch's rights to the land and requested that the situation be stayed until the completion of the hearing of the Supreme Court. The reaction of the court was as expected. In accordance to its measure of evil,was its brutal violence, arbitrariness and cruelty. In March 2011, in the middle of the night, 2:00am, the destroyers came, Yasamniks and officers of the army, blocked the main road and with the help of bulldozers destroyed within 3 hours the entire vineyard. After that, the Arabs came to seize the area. They did not come alone. They were accompanied by IDF forces guarding them against the Jews.
Meanwhile, came a ruling of a different case whereby the presumption of land ownership after 10 years of uncontested claim is no longer binding or a consideration. Then the Deutsch attorney gave up. They exhausted legal means, they were without rights before a military government.
That is precisely the legal status of the Settlers and theirs alone. Since Oslo, the Arabs have their own civilian governments in Aza and Ramalla. Land cleared and bettered by Deutsch is now peacefully and tranquilly in the hands of Arab petitioners who don't need to prove ownership and is even protected by the military government, the Civil Administration, Israeli Police and the IDF. Not to mention another minute detail of losing 180,000 shekel investment along with their time, hard work, sweat and tears down the drain. Despair and Frustration.....
All this is occurring under the responsibility of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. It suits him outwardly to make it seem like the evil intentions belong to the Defense Minister Ehud Barak yet he is aware of everything and is responsible.
To complete the picture, we must add the lobby efforts that were made to save the situation. They turned to MK Elkin, Uri Ariel and others, Zambish and the Mayor tried...Moshe Deutsch wrote to different people and asked for help but all efforts didn't help.
We will address what still needs to be done later at the end of this article....
Whoever thinks that this incident with Moshe Deutsch is of unusual severity, is welcome to read the article by Kalman Libeskin dated August 26, 2010 in Sofshabbat in Maariv entitled "Eretz Meshuga" [which means "Crazy Land".
Also if you want to see a pattern of letting the Arabs get away with delinquent activity read http://www.israelnationalnews.com/News/News.aspx/141167#.UFIGjI2PVm4 Coverup of Arab Arson Offensive Exposed Israel's police, fire brigades and press decided to hush up arson offensive, a lone journalist reports, robin.]. This article deals with what happened and is happening to Mordechai Deutsch brother of Moshe Deutsch, of Mitzpe Yair which is close to his brothers residence in Susia. Mordechai came to Mitzpe Yair from Gush Katif. His brother Shaya, who worked together with him in the greenhouses in Kfar-Yam, was murdered by one of his workers (March 29, 1993). A tragedy sending shock waves in its time. Mordechai transferred the equipment to Har Hebron and started anew. This time he started with 8 acres of such incubators known as "wind pipes". They were aluminum pipes arched covered with nylon: organic farming of various vegetables with no workers, just himself, his wife and 8 children. The salt of the earth. 10 years ago, the Civil Administration opened a portfolio against him for these pipes that also disassemble, because of unlicensed construction. Libeskind noted that in the surrounding area there are hundreds of illegal greenhouses built by Arabs that don't require permits.
Meanwhile, another front from an entirely different direction was opened against Mordechai. But in the Sodom of the Civil Adminstration these two fronts will in the future connect, to strangle Jewish Settlement. Ten years after Mordechai began to work the land, Arabs from Yata from the Awad family accosted him and claimed before the Civil Adminstration that the land belongs to them. For many years, no one, neither they nor others, raised any claim or appeal. Mordechai took the usual route that begins with the Supreme Court and then the Arabs claimed that the land was registered in the name of their grandfather. But this trick they had tried before and it turned out that they lied and the documents were fabricated. Also the claim that they worked the land until 1997 was refuted by aerial photographs.
The respondent as usual was the Civil Administration. But instead of requesting a rejection of the petition in light of all these lies, the Administration took the side of the Arabs. What did they do? Since they lost the burden of proof regarding Arab ownership of the land, they remembered the violation, an old story 10 years earlier, for the missing building permit of the aluminum pipes and they notified Mordechai that hey will destroy all the greenhouses because of lack of a building permit.
That paved a shortcut way to beat the Supreme Court. It was possible for the Arabs to win without having the matter settled in the Supreme Court. All the Deutsch's greenhouses will be destroyed not because of Awads petition but because of the wind pipes! The date was set by the officers of Sodom themselves arbitrarily. When the Arab petitioners saw that the Civil Adminstration did all the work they withdrew their petition from the Supreme Court.
And so the Deutsch Familyh waits with bated breath for the end of August [and beyond robin]. Will the Axe fall on their existance? Perhaps the "Occupiers" will against their nature, show a drop of compassion against the Settler "enemy"?
Together with the stories of the 2 brothers, one should read the Edmund Levy Report in order to understand its immense significance. Suddenly, three paragraphs in the report are understood and very relevant. Here is a quote from the testimony of the head of the Civil Adminstration, Almoz, before the Committee.
"The current situation is for the benefit of the Palestinians" since the procedure is that a Palestinian can display any evidence, any receipt, a payment on any distant parcel of land and if the Israeli doesn't bring a contract, he will be forced out, shooed away like a fly from the field. In land disputes in Judea and Samaria, I am required by the Attorney General to adopt the view of the judges even in cases that I am not comfortable with the decision after my own personal evaluation of the data and the property."
The Edmund Committee in its own voice says:
" It appears as if the planners of the decree put a goal for themselves - to prevent Jewish Settlement in Judea and Samaria or widen her borders"
and also that the Civil Administrative is an administration whose authority
"apparently appears to maintain a negative bias against the Israeli Settler".
Deutsch Brothers... You heard! Now you know why this evil has befallen upon you!
Both episodes that I presented here could not have happened had the government approved the Levi Report and adopted her.
Palestinian appellants would be sent to regular courts and asked for proof of substance for their claims. If there is no substance, a decent judge would throw out the case and others who see this wouldn't bother coming. The Civil Administration would be denied the authority to implement hostile, cruel, unjust orders like heter iska charging interest, throwing out people from the land because working the land is "cause a disturbance" or issuing military orders of expulsion from the area.
Netanyahu, and it all depends on him, and it is his responsibility, still has not presented the Levy Report to his cabinet of Ministers for approval.
They say that he promised in the beginning of September and in this he will be tested. [it is now September 12th robin]. Also the Settler establishments, head of their councils, the Yesha Council, Likud and her ministers, MK's and their PR and every Jewish patriot will be tested. It is a big SHAME. The Deutsch brothers, in their hardest hours were left to themselves while there was no one among us, and we in all our strengths, number in the 400,000's, to save them. The Deutsch family is only one example. There are many more.
In this time, let us remember, if the Levy Report is not implemented and if this is the case, and we don't go all out with an all out struggle against the Netanyahu regime without giving a care about what anyone thinks, including non compliance with the Civil Administration (civil disobedience) - going out to the streets in an effort to bring down the Netanyahu government like it happened in the past when he was guilty, in the end each of us will find himself entrapped in an occupying ruler ship who will treat us as an enemy that was defeated and conquered.
Because all of us are the Deutsch brothers!
