The Real Story Behind The Beit El Razings
Israeli military bulldozers last week razed two Jewish buildings located in the biblical town of Beit El, a sizable Israeli settlement in the West Bank. Much of the news media coverage of the events contained inaccurate information about the case in question, requiring some clarification.
The scenes were reminiscent of the civil disobedience that preceded Israel’s 2005 evacuation of Gush Katif, a slate of Jewish communities inside the Gaza Strip. And last week’s events took place just days after the 10th anniversary of the start of the Gaza Jewish expulsion.
Police fired smoke grenades at the protesters and arrested at least nine amid reports that a small number of protesters had pelted security forces with stones and chairs.
The 36-hour protest, parts of which were attended by this reporter, was mostly peaceful, consisting of Jewish activists who used passive civil disobedience to try to block the area leading to the two buildings.
The Israel Defense Forces imposed a military blockade on the entrance to Beit El in a bid to stem the tide of protesters traveling to the city. KleinOnline was able to gain access due to a military exemption for credentialed news media outlets.
The protesters eventually dissipated after the owner of the buildings called for an end to the protest movement, explaining the buildings would just be rebuilt anyway.
The protest movement started amid reports the military was moving in to raze the building following a decision by the notoriously activist Supreme Court here.
The Draynoff buildings are located within the Jewish community of Beit El, which has a population of more than 6,000 residents. The two structures, meant to become apartment buildings, are located next to other apartment buildings in the city. Their demolition will not change the status quo in Beit El nor will the land be used by Palestinians.
In 1970, three years after the Six-Day War, Israel built on Beit El originally for military purposes. In 1978, it officially approved the establishment of the Beit El community on that land.
The Draynoff buildings were constructed with the encouragement of the Beit El City Council and other government agencies here but were reportedly built without all of the necessary official permits.
In 2010, attorneys for the far-left, European-funded, anti-settler Yesh Din Israeli legal activist group petitioned the Supreme Court on behalf of a private Palestinian named Abd al-Rahman Qassem, who claimed he owned the land where the buildings were built.
Qassem never fully proved his case nor did he provide sufficient documentation to show conclusively that he was the rightful owner. The Supreme Court gave the state two years to arrange for building permits and approve the status of the land or to raze the buildings. The ruling hinged not on the property belonging to Qassem but on the buildings being constructed without the proper permits.
Despite the approval by the local council, the state never fully approved the land permits, instead asking for several extensions while considering a plan that would have approved building permits for the properties retroactively.
The Supreme Court did not accept the state’s actions and ruled the two buildings must be demolished. This despite the likelihood the properties will only be rebuilt once the state approves permits for that land.
Indeed, largely unreported in the Israeli media is that Israel’s civil administration last week officially gave approval for construction at the site. Still, the Supreme Court ruled the state acted too late and that the buildings must be destroyed.
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