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14 March 2012
By Stephen Lendman
Throughout the Territories, Palestinians suffer
horrifically. West Bank and East Jerusalem residents
live in terror of pre-dawn raids, arrests, false
charges, torture, rigged trials, and imprisonment.
In a war zone, besieged Gazans have it worst.
Depravation harms them. Humanitarian crises erupt.
Basic needs aren't met, including vital medical care
for lack of fuel, electricity, medications, proper
equipment, and ability to move freely elsewhere for
treatment.
For the past week, daily Israeli air attacks
terrorized them. At least 25 died. Dozens more were
wounded. Targeted and gratuitous slaughter erupts
whenever Israel wishes. Expect more. Israel won't
tolerate calm or peace. Like America, it needs
heightened fear to reign terror ruthlessly.
After days of violence, will Cast Lead II follow?
Retired Southern Command General Tzvi Fogel favors it,
saying:
"Today everyone understands that unless we initiate a
determined and courageous operation designed to
dismantle the weapons and the threat from Gaza, we
will not solve the problem."
"We need to make sure there are no weapons in Gaza."
Southern Command has prepared plans to make it happen.
The question is whether we'll have a leader with
enough courage to make the decision to act in Gaza,
fighting on land and not just from the air."
Extremist MKs express support. Knesset Foreign Affairs
and Defense Committee chairman Shaul Mofaz wants
Netanyahu to declare a "special (security) situation"
emergency, saying:
"Gaza is not a nature reserve, and the terrorist
leaders must not feel that safe."
MK Avi Dichter said "Israel has entered a war of
attrition."
Left unsaid was Israeli forces began it lawlessly.
Victimized Palestinians are called terrorists for
defending themselves. In lock step, media scoundrels
regurgitate the Big Lie.
So does UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon. He called
Palestinian self-defense "unacceptable." At the same
time, he dismissively urged Israel "exercise maximum
restraint."
Brussels-based European Campaign to Raise the Siege on
Gaza official Anwar Gharbi denounced him, saying:
"This is not the first time (Ban) has adopted
pro-Israeli and pro-occupation attitudes. Earlier, he
banned the freedom fleet boat from entering" Gaza.
"What Ban Ki-moon stated as well as his attitudes
violate international laws by supporting the
aggressor, so he is not qualified to stay in his post
and the international society must reconsider his
position for the UN as Secretary-General for being
biased and unbalanced."
He's disgracefully silent on Israel's worst crimes.
Despite his sworn duty to uphold fundamental human
rights, equity and justice for all, and efforts "to
save succeeding generations from the scourge of war,"
he dismissively ignores Israeli state terror and
expresses one-sided support.
Like Washington, other Western states, and complicit
regional despots, he sanctions violations of
fundamental UN Charter provisions. Doing so lets
Israel get away with murder and much more.
A new B'Tselem report discusses Israel' theft of
privately owned Palestinian land. It does it by
lawlessly reclassifying it state owned. Titled "Under
the Guise of Legality: Declarations on state land in
the West Bank," it cites Israel's High Court Elon
Moreh case ruling.
It prohibited seizing privately owned land for
settlements. It ordered them confined to state land.
Prior to Israel's 1967 occupation, Israel's land
registry restricted it (excluding East Jerusalem) to
527,000 dunams or 9% of West Bank land.
Most was concentrated in the Jordan Valley. The
Central Mountain Ridge region had virtually none. Over
the years, that changed. Based on procedural grounds
and convoluted claims, over 900,000 additional dunams
were stolen.
Under international law, all Israeli settlements are
illegal. Nonetheless, they're expanded daily. Israel
plans more Judea and Samaria seizures, including all
East Jerusalem as its exclusive capital. At most,
Palestinians will be left with isolated scrub land
bantustans called a state.
Through silence and dismissiveness, major media
scoundrels approve. Israel already stole over 40% of
valued West Bank land. Unless stopped, it'll have all
parts it wants.
B'Tselem analyzed the 1858 Ottoman Land Code and
Jordanian land laws that amended and revised it. It
also considered relevant Mandatory period UK court
rulings.
It showed "Israel's application of its declarations
policy was unlawful, since it classified some land as
government property even though, under the local Law,
it was private Palestinian property."
"Under the Guise of Legality shows that the
declarations policy breaches the local land laws"
three principal ways:
(1) Under Ottoman law, farmers who cultivated "miri
land" for 10 years without state objection owned it.
Jordan applied the same standard.
Israel's convoluted reinterpretation requires
Palestinians to prove they cultivated at least 50% of
their Central Mountain Ridge land. If less, Israel
claimed all of it state owned even though local law
calls it private Palestinian property.
(2) Israel's High Court stipulated that Palestinians
who cultivated "miri land" for 10 years, then stopped,
retained ownership rights, even without registering it
in their name in Israel's land registry. Jordan
applied the same standard.
Israel's declarations policy reversed it to facilitate
massive land theft.
(3) Under Ottoman law, "metruka land" is public two
ways. Either it serves the entire public or belongs a
specific group that had and used it many years. The
Supreme Court held that groups or village residents
need only show they used the relevant land for many
years to establish collective rights.
Israel ignores the ruling entirely. Doing so violates
its High Court and breaches local law. B'Tselem's
analysis shows that Israeli state land declarations
have been "substantively different from the results of
the land settlements that were carried out in the West
Bank during the Mandatory and Jordanian periods."
As a result, "a significant percentage of" Israeli
designated state land "is privately owned Palestinian
property, which was taken from their lawful owners by
legal manipulation and in breach of local Law and
international law alike."
A Final Comment
Israel is a serial law breaker. It governs
extrajudicially in matters ranging from longstanding
militarization of an occupied area, persecuting its
residents ruthlessly, terrorizing them as state
policy, committing cold-blooded murder, and getting
international law High Contracting Parties to approve.
It shows what obstacles Palestinians must overcome to
live free on their own land in their own country.
Israel stole it. They'll continue resisting until one
day it's again theirs. With enough support from
millions of ordinary caring people, it's just a matter
of time.
Stephen Lendman lives in Chicago and can be reached
at lendmanstephen@sbcglobal.net. Also visit his blog
site at sjlendman.blogspot.com and listen to
cutting-edge discussions with distinguished guests on
the Progressive Radio News Hour on the Progressive
Radio Network Thursdays at 10AM US Central time and
Saturdays and Sundays at noon. All programs are
archived for easy listening. http://www.progressiveradionetwork.com/the-progressive-news-hour/.