American Taxpayers are Helping to Fund Israeli Settlements, Obstructing the Possibility of Any Two-State Solution, Which Includes a Palestinian Capital in East Jerusalem
An American nonprofit is making peace even less likely.
October 14, 2014
Jill Jacobs, The Washington Post - At 2 a.m. one day last week, a group of Israeli settlers, protected by riot police,
moved
into 25 apartments in seven Palestinian-owned buildings in the Silwan
neighborhood of East Jerusalem. Some of these apartments were vacant or
recently constructed. In other cases, residents were away from home for
the night. In one case, a young man had purchased an apartment to move
into with his bride following their wedding. Instead, the couple is now
enmeshed in a legal struggle with the settlers who have set up residence
in their marital home.
The biggest surprise of all? You may have helped fund this takeover.
Elad,
the settler group that organized this incursion, raises $6 million a
year in the United States through the Friends of Ir David Foundation. As
a nonprofit, donations to FIDF are tax deductible; funders can write
off their gifts, which means that all of us who pay U.S. taxes helped
subsidize the new settlement. That’s in direct opposition to official
U.S. policy, which seeks a two-state solution and prohibits American aid
to settlements over the Green Line.
Even more directly, if
you’ve traveled to Israel (as nearly half of American Jews, and a
staggering number of American Christians, have), you may have visited
the Ir David archaeological site, which includes Hezekiah’s tunnel and
other finds from Biblical Jerusalem. A huge percentage of its 500,000
annual visitors are American, and it’s a hallowed stop on tours
organized by synagogues, churches and schools.* That $15 admission fee
paid by all those people? Money
for settlers. Even the excavation of Ir David has damaged or destroyed Palestinian homes, while
infuriating archaeologists who complain that Elad
prioritizes politics over responsible archaeology.
Elad
has a long history of working to transform Silwan from a Palestinian
neighborhood into a Jewish one. The idea is to make “facts on the
ground,” in the parlance of the conflict, that will obstruct the
possibility of any two-state solution that includes a Palestinian
capital in East Jerusalem. Elad
evicts Palestinians from their homes
by exploiting legal loopholes or incomplete property records, it builds
entirely new settler compounds, it uses archaeological sites to
establish Jewish claims to certain strategic parcels of land, and it
even erected a
new visitors’ center on a contested piece of real estate.
Some, like Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu,
wonder
why Israeli Jews and Palestinians can’t live side by side in Silwan.
But anyone who has visited the neighborhood recently knows that what is
happening there is not about, say, diversifying the neighborhood. It’s a
hostile takeover. New fortified buildings topped by Israeli flags
tower over the homes of longtime residents. Settlers walk through the neighborhood carrying guns,
accompanied by armed guards. Meanwhile, the municipality virtually always
denies Palestinians permits
to build new homes or to renovate their old ones. Those Palestinians
who dare to build anyway have their homes demolished, and—to add insult
to injury—receive bills for the demolition and the cleanup of rubble.
In
this case, Elad claims to have purchased the apartments legally, via a
U.S.-based shadow company. The Palestinians dispute these claims. While
it will take some time to sort out the legal issues, we can say this: A
person who has legally purchased a new home does not generally move in
under cover of night, flanked by riot police.
There is a special
category in Jewish law for this kind of action. In the Talmud, the
students of Rabbi Yochanan ben Zakkai ask why the Torah deals more
severely with a burglar than with a mugger. Their teacher’s response: A
mugger, who robs face-to-face, fears neither human beings nor God. But a
burglar, who sneaks in when no one is looking, is afraid of human
beings but shows no fear of God. In its use of subterfuge, shadow
companies, and dead-of-night incursions, Elad represents the worst kind
of thief.
And Americans, Elad donors and pilgrims to Israel, are,
in some indirect but important way, complicit. Jewish law strongly
forbids aiding or abetting a thief. In one of the most important guides
to Jewish law, Moses Maimonides rules that “It is forbidden to purchase
stolen goods from the thief. . . for anyone who does such things or
similar ones strengthens the hands of sinners. . . it is [also]
forbidden to derive any benefit from a stolen object.” Those of us who
donate to Elad, or pay admission to the Ir David archaeological site,
aid and abet those who steal homes and land in order to prevent peace.
As we ooh and aah over the excavations, we derive pleasure from these
thefts.
The good news is that we have the power to prevent these
settlers from blocking a lasting peace agreement. This past spring, an
Israeli court
granted Elad control
of Robinson’s Arch—the section of the Western Wall where men and women
may pray together—as well as adjoining archaeological sites. T’ruah, the
organization I direct, mobilized more than 1,000 rabbis and American
Jews to
oppose this transfer.
The Reform and Conservative Movements of Judaism lodged their own
complaints. The Prime Minister’s office responded with a promise to
prevent the site from falling into the hands of Elad, and just last
month, a judge
overturned the earlier decision. Our voices matter.
With
its insistence on shoehorning Jewish settlements into longstanding
Palestinian neighborhoods, Elad prioritizes its short-sighted political
agenda over the long-term security of the State of Israel, alongside a
viable State of Palestine. Imagine if instead, U.S. donors invested
money in a lasting peace solution that grants both Jews
and
Palestinians a safe place in Jerusalem; allows Jews, Christians and
Muslims to access their holy sites; and ends the decades-old conflict
that has already claimed too many lives.
Rabbi
Jill Jacobs is the Executive Director of T’ruah, which mobilizes 1,800
rabbis, cantors, and their communities to protect human rights in North
America, Israel, and the occupied Palestinian territories. Her most
recent book is “Where Justice Dwells.”
Comments from Washington Post:
Rabbi Jacobs,
the term missing from your analysis is "Ethnic Cleansing." An act
prohibited under International Law. Be safe in your travels to
Jerusalem extremists whether Jewish or Muslim may wish you harm. At the
end of the day, it is truly pathetic to see extremism of a few in power,
like Netanyahu dissipate the good will of the people of Israel. From
war crimes: the wanton destruction of civilians by IDF artillery fire,
despite the fact the mighty IAF possesses the most sophisticated
precision guided weapons and drones to minimize civilian casualties in
an urban setting, now to these pathetic ethnic cleanings in Jerusalem. I
say to you good people of Israel, what kind of a country are you
becoming? Erasing Palestinians from their homes is precisely the very
same crime visited on your ancestors. If anything these collective
actions by your extremist leadership tarnish Israel's great legacy of
the Holocaust. Best wishes on real political change in Israel.
"Compulsory
population transfers, including the implantation of settlers are a
serious matter, not only because they affect many people, but also
because they violate the whole gamut of civil and political rights,
economic, social and cultural rights. Let us remember, human rights are
not exercised in a vacuum, but quite concretely where one lives.
Expulsion by its very nature deprives victims of the exercise of many
rights and is frequently accompanied by physical abuses and even by the
ultimate violation of the right to life." [
Source]
Christian Zionists are offering apologies for the Israeli confiscation of Palestian owned property. Put
yourself in their place. It seems Jews were in their place in the
1930s ini Germany where they had their land confiscated in much the same
manner. You have decided to treat them the same way the Jews in
Germany were treated. That is beyond contempt. Do you really think
that they would not attack Israel with whatever they have available to
them? In this case, it is with primitive rockets that rarely cause much
damage. I know that is something that really concerns the Israeli
citizenry, but let's get real. What is inciting the Palestinians to
attack Israel? I say it is the Israeli treatment of the Palestinians.
The references
to the Torah and the Talmud refer to comportment within the community;
but the State of Israel is the Zionist enterprise -- an interplay
between the Jewish community and the rest of the world. For that
enterprise, the Torah's principles and prescribed practices are found in
Deuteronomy 6 and 7 and in Deuteronomy 20:10 et seq.
Netanyahu
needs to stop the current settlements until a deal is reached. This is
where a little faith needs to come into play and I hate to say this but
asking Israel to do this is really hard to swallow. They need to give
Palestine a land free of any Israeli rule or military intrusion. Now if
Palestine decides to get aggressive from their "new" land free from any
Israeli intrusion, then Israel has the right to bombard Palestine to
pieces. Hopefully that won't be the case but until it is done Israel
will be seen as the worse of two evils. Israel has in the past based
their attacks on countries based on what they perceived as a threat
(Egypt, Iraq, Syria). In this day in age that isn't pre-emptive
striking as Israel likes to always call their attacks, its an act of
war.
So Israeli
Prime Minister Benjamin Netaynahu LIED on National TV when he appeared
on Face the Nation with Bob Schieffer when he claimed that these
were"additional" and that no homes were being taken from anyone and that
the settlement expansion in Jerusalem also included 700 homes for
Palestinians ... apparently he meant Palestinians who were not Christian
or Muslim. Pathetic that Schieffer would give Netanyahu a pass on his
lies and how Americans just accept all the BS that Israel produces
through their lobby and PR Machine.
As a die-hard
supporter of Israel and someone who believes Palestinians do not now nor
ever cared to make peace with Israel, I totally agree with the rabbi's
piece. The settlements are a disaster for Israel and they corrode
Israeli honor. As a Jew with many dear and close relatives in Israel
and as a child of concentration camp survivors I implore Americans to
reform our political system so that all forms of money are not so
determinative of all our policies, including our middle-eastern
policies. I implore Americans to help Israeli society come to
understand that its best interests are in getting out of the West Bank
and conceding to the Palestinians their right to statehood.
As long as the
American government is for sale, it will support Israel. The American
people, and many American Jews including me, are tired of the Israeli
arrogance and aggression, but our politicians love the campaign
donations.
Read Scott
Anderson; "Lawrence IN Arabia -- War, Deceit, Imperial Folly and the
Making for the Modern Middle East" which details an exactly similar
tactic of buying land on the pretext of coexistence with the actual
intent of creating an exclusivist state.
Israel's
unilateral annexation of East Jerusalem was not legal. The blatant
attempts to force arabs out of the region by giving building permits
only to Jews is pure bullying under a legal pretext. I suppose it was
legal for Germany to confiscate Jewish lands because they passed a law?
October 10, 2014
i24News - Last month, Jewish settlers seized apartments in E. Jerusalem's Silwan, allegedly sold to them by an Arab man.
An East Jerusalem Palestinian man in his 50s was
stabbed to death Thursday night presumably following an argument that
broke out between family members over the selling of Arab-owned houses
to Jewish families in the Arab neighborhood of Silwan, Israeli daily
Haaretz reported Friday morning. Jerusalem police opened an investigation.
On September 30, Jewish settlers forcefully took over 25 apartments
in Silwan, with the new occupants claiming they had legitimately bought
the properties.
The incident led to clashes between Arab residents and Jewish
settlers in the neighborhood, located outside Jerusalem's Old City near
the flashpoint Al-Aqsa mosque compound.
Palestinian Authority negotiator Saeb Erekat blasted the move,
saying: “Illegal Israeli settlers protected by occupation forces entered
seven buildings in the neighborhood of Silwan.”
He claimed that “a total of seven Palestinian families were left homeless” as a result.
Erekat accused the Israeli government of being run “by the settlers
and for settlers. It serves the objective of altering the character of
Jerusalem through isolating, containing and confining Palestinian
existence, allowing for more Israeli land grabs and attempts at changing
the identity and demography of Palestine and particularly of occupied
East Jerusalem.”
According to
Haaretz, several Palestinian families, who in
the past owned the contested property, claimed they had sold the
buildings to a man named Farid Haj Yahya.
Yahya reportedly bought the real estate for the rightist Elad organization, which aspires to settle Jews in East Jerusalem.
Haj Yahya, a resident of the Arab city of Taibeh, denied any involvement in selling the properties to the settlers.
“I’ve been in the Islamic Movement for 20 years, do charity work and
help people and none of this ever happened. I bought a house in Silwan
but nothing beyond that. I didn’t sell it to settlers. If anyone has a
document [showing] that I sold one centimeter to settlers, I’m willing
to go to Ramallah and face a firing squad.
“I’m surprised my name came up. I’ve built my reputation for 20
years. I bought from an Arab and sold to an Arab, and he didn’t sell to
settlers. I wouldn’t endanger my family and children and reputation for
real estate or money,” Yahya told Haaretz.
Yahya was at one time one of the leaders of the Islamic Movement’s
southern branch. He also once headed the Al Aqsa organization, which is
associated with the Islamic Movement.
The Islamic movement’s southern branch also denied any connection
with Haj Yahya.
“Yahya worked with us for four years but the ties with
him were cut off in 2010 and we’ve had nothing to do with him since,”
the movement's secretary Dr. Mansur Abbas, said.
The White House had charged that Israeli actions over the Green Line
in Jerusalem had "poisoned" the atmosphere and distanced Israel even
from its closest allies.
Speaking to US cable network
MSNBC, Israeli Prime Minister
Benjamin Netanyahu said the White House statement was "baffling" to him.
"It criticized individual Jews who bought apartments in an Arab
neighborhood," Netanyahu said. "Jews buy apartments, private property,
in Arab neighborhoods. Arabs buy apartments in Jewish neighborhoods."
Jerusalem Mayor Nir Barkat told Israeli
Channel 2 that,
"Jews can buy apartments wherever they want in Jerusalem, and especially
in the City of David, which is the place of ancient Jerusalem 3,000
years ago."