With Jerusalem in flames and terror on the rise, we must remember the small but powerful acts we can take to bring down the flames. There is still time to help Israel do the right thing, and now more than ever, we are obligated to give it our all. Please read on for an update on the status of RHR’s and its partners* High Court case to restore planning authority to Palestinian hands for their own communities in Area C, so that administrative housing demolitions become a thing of the past.
Back in April, many will recall the petition RHR brought to the High Court demanding that the state return planning rights to Palestinians in Area C. Such a move would essentially put an end to administrative housing demolitions by giving Palestinians a say in the planning of their own communities, thus ending the need for illegal building. Although the judges indicated they would not force the State to restore the local and district planning committees, they made it clear that the current situation of discrimination, lack of representation, and continual human tragedy is unacceptable. The judges gave the state 90 days to come up with an alternative solution. At the time we cautiously celebrated, but we understood that our ten years of work towards the petition was far from over. We feared the state’s response would be little more than a fig-leaf, a charade of participation, with no real impact. Unfortunately, we were correct.
Last week, RHR submitted our critique of the Israeli government’s proposal written in response to our April petition. As we feared, the government did submit a “fig leaf” proposal. The response was a proposal to institutionalize consultations that are already taking place in many cases. These consultations have not significantly altered the situation because the Civil Administration has no obligation to take into account what they hear. We also saw in the spring that consultations were suspended in response to moves by the Palestinian Authority. As Rabbi Shimshon Raphael Hirsch taught, appropriating for ourselves the task of deciding how to be just to those not sitting at the table is extremely problematic. The court has now asked the state to respond to our response in 21 days (from November 20th).
Civil Administration (army) planning officials have acknowledged that they don’t really have the ability to adequately plan for Palestinian communities. Currently, the failure of the existing system is clear. Thousands have been forced to build without permits, and great human suffering is caused when hundreds of homes are demolished each year in Area C alone.
We offered a constructive solution for alleviating the tremendous human suffering caused by administrative housing demolitions. We are therefore extremely disappointed that the government is opposing it.
Human rights must not be politicized. The State of Israel has an obligation to ensure that every human being under her control, each created in God’s Image, has a fair chance to build a home for him/herself and his/her family, irrespective of the current state of the peace process or differing opinions about what areas will be under Israel’s control in a future final status agreement. We therefore call on the state to withdraw its opposition to RHR’s petition.
* the village council of Dirat-Rafa’aya, The Jerusalem Legal Aid and Human Rights Center, The Israeli Committee Against House Demolitions, and The Society of Saint Yves- The Catholic Center for Human Rights. Additionally, many Palestinian villages also requested to join the petition.
The post UPDATE: RHR responds to the state’s “fig-leaf” proposal response to our planning petition appeared first on Rabbis for Human Rights.
