Whose land? Part X
A NY Times article touches on the contentious issue of Jewish ownership of land in Jerusalem.
JERUSALEM — Jewish nationalists and Palestinians clashed in an East Jerusalem neighborhood on Tuesday after the Israelis took over a house by court order in a predominantly Arab area. The house at the center of Tuesday’s flare-up is in Sheik Jarrah, a district just north of the Old City, where three Palestinian families have been evicted from other houses in the last year after losing a lengthy legal battle in the High Court and lower district and magistrates courts. A Jewish association won its claim to historical ownership of the land in question, and has plans to build a large Jewish housing complex there.
There are a number of reports from this ‘clash’ in Sheik Jarrah I could have chosen but I picked this one because its the most blatantly representative on how a complex issue is slanted under the guise of even-handedness. Now on to the heart of matter -
The latest Jewish residents to move into the area were escorted by the police and private security guards and immediately removed furniture from the property, which was built by a Palestinian family headed by Refka al-Kurd, 87. The small, one-story structure was built about 10 years ago as an extension of the Kurds’ original home, but it was unoccupied, having been sealed by the authorities after it was determined to have been constructed without the proper permits. “The authorities took our keys to the property because we built it without permits,” said Nabil al-Kurd, 66, who lives in the original house. “But it seems the settlers can live here without permits because they are the sons of God,” he said bitterly, referring to the Jewish newcomers. Shmulik Ben-Ruby, the spokesman for the Jerusalem police, said his force acted in line with the court decision that determined that the property “is owned by Jews.” Blood spattered the forecourt on Tuesday after a Jewish man was hit on the head by Palestinians who attacked the new residents with clubs and stones. Later, after a day of scuffles, a Palestinian woman, Nadia al-Kurd, was taken to the hospital with what was thought to be a heart attack.
Now what the NY Times glosses over is the actual court ruling wherein the land was found to be owned by Jews who were ethnically cleansed from their land during the illegal occupation by the Jordanian government and instead focuses on the ‘pitiful plight’ of the Palestinians being evicted.
In fact, the Palestinian family never did receive title by the Jordanian government for the land during their occupation and the Israeli court ruled this family could have kept occupation of this property providing they paid rent to the legal owners of the land which the family refused to do. The Jewish owners then moved to have the court evict the squatters from their property in order to move in paying tenants. The evictions have nothing to do with ‘illegal’ building permits but by interjecting it into the article it gives a nice aura of grievance and a sense of institutional discrimination to the Palestinian narrative under the Israeli court system.
And I would be remiss if I did not point your attention to the fact the NY Times piece only mentions the names of the Palestinians victims of the ‘clash’. How do I know all this? It’s easily cross referenced this with the Arutz Sheva report.
(IsraelNN.com) A “welcoming” committee of Arabs and foreign anti-Israel activists, including those from the United States and Sweden, attacked Jews with clubs and stones Tuesday as a new family moved into a home in eastern Jerusalem. Police stopped the attack but not before blood was streaming down the face of a Jewish guard at the site.
The Palestinian demand for East Jerusalem conveniently ignores that there is a long documented history of Jewish ownership of land in East Jerusalem. An ownership which was only terminated by the illegal occupation by the Jordanian government which cleaned the land of Jews from their ancient community in 1948-49. In order for the Palestinians to make East Jerusalem for the ‘capital’ again requires a significant second expulsion of Jewish property owners and their Jewish tenants.
So lemme get this straight…I illegally squat on anothers property, don’t pay ‘rent’ add an illegal addition, then I can pout and say the Israeli landlords are mean b/c they would prefer paying tennants.
Instead, legal owners get rocks, BIG ones, thrown at them.
Thanks for your blog, Kateland.
It’s nice that you keep us all updated.
Beachnut, your comment touches on something which I think is important to understand. The Israeli court recognized the Palestinian family had been put between a rock and a hard place and ruled as compassionately as it could under the circumstances. Instead of allowing the Jewish property owners the right to evict the Palestinian family outright the Israeli court sought a compromise solution which would address the needs of both the property owner and the tenant. All the Palestinian family had to do was pay rent. Instead the tenant refused to pay rent and an eviction notice was eventually served.
Now land ownership is a very politically contentious issue which the Palestinian Authority exploits ruthlessly by bringing pressure against the ordinary Palestinians, who find themselves smack dab in the middle of these disputes, not to pay rent to Jewish landlords. If they decide to pay rent, the PA undertakes a campaign against the family – make no mistake it gets real ugly. If the family doesn’t pay rent they are eventually evicted but the PA does pick up their legal bills and gets great propaganda mileage out of exploiting their misery.
A very similar situation occurs in the Palestinian refugee camps located in Arab countries. These camps are horrendous – I wouldn’t let an animal live like these people are forced to but the PA/PLO/FATAH, HAMAS etc will exert no pressure on any of the Arab host governments to ease conditions in these camps. In fact, anytime any Arab government starts to lighten up conditions in the refugee camps the Palestinian leadership starts screaming in protest. The Palestinian leadership’s position has always been to exploit the misery and suffering for its propaganda value – ease up and they lose their yardstick to beat the Israelis with.
Here is a point to ponder. Why after all these years are there still ‘refugee’ camps inside the Gaza Strip over areas under the Palestinian Authority’s control in the West Bank? I mean, if there is going to be a Palestinian State wouldn’t it be in the best interest of a future Palestinian state to settle these people permanently? Of course, the PA receives additional funds for operating these so-called camps and propaganda value for having them.
Years ago a blogging acquaintance took pictures of the ‘Palestinian settlements’ outside the camps in the West Bank. You might find this post interesting to look at. The links are found at the http://lastexiled.com/index.php/2007/03/21/this-is-an-economic-boycott/” rel=”nofollow”>bottom of the post.