Posted on 01/13/2006 6:37:26 AM PST by Esther Ruth
Mofaz Orders Destruction of Three More Communities 11:15 Jan 13, '06 / 13 Tevet 5766 By Ezra HaLevi
DM Sha'ul Mofaz has authorized the destruction of three Jewish neighborhoods in the Shomron. There are 7, 380 demolition orders against illegal Arab buildings that remain unexecuted.
The threatened communities, called "unauthorized outposts" by the government, are Skully's Farm near Elon Moreh, the Arussi Farm near Har Bracha and Hill 725, near Yitzhar.
Mofaz took advantage of the media attention to the alleged uprooting of Arab olive trees to declare that the outposts to be destroyed are close to the sites of such incidents. Police spokesmen said that the police plan on using tear gas in the coming expulsion attempts, as they did in Sde Boaz on Wednesday. Activists say they will bring their state-issued gas masks in response.
Mofaz made the announcement shortly after the Supreme Court agreed to hear a petition from residents of the threatened neighborhood of Amona, near Ofra, home to nine permanent houses, postponing its destruction by two weeks. The hearing on the petition is scheduled for Wednesday.
Though the Yesha Council has launched a campaign to save Amona, it has made no effort to help the hilltop communities in question. No members of the council appeared at Sde Boaz, the Gush Etzion community that saw one of its homes destroyed earlier this week. Sha'ul Goldstein, a council member and the mayor of Gush Etzion, told Channel 2 television that he did not know about the plan to destroy the home in Sde Boaz and had a previous engagement. He then claimed, however, that a deal had been made with residents to dismantle the house on their own, and that he was against its construction from the start.
Sde Boaz residents say Goldstein knew full well that the army planned to destroy the house and that claims of an agreement are ludicrous. "In the end, it was a blessing that Goldstein and the Yesha Council stayed away, with their defeatism and their megaphones," one activist said Wednesday. "We all remember Kfar Maimon and see before our eyes how they are selling out communities right and left in exchange for being placed inside the 'security fence' of media approval and worse."
Yesha Council spokeswoman Emily Amrusi told Arutz-7 that such claims are outrageous, "Coming from the same people who claim we 'sold out' Gush Katif, they do not even merit a serious reply."
Sde Boaz, Skully's Farm, Arussi Farm and Hill 725 are all designed after the model innovated by Avri Ran. All were built entirely by Jewish labor, refuse to be fenced in by security barriers, espouse various degrees of environmental consciousness and engage in agriculture. Amona, on the other hand, was built by Amana, the logistical branch of the Yesha Council, using local Palestinian workers and without any agricultural accompaniment.
Residents of Amona, however, are also wary of the Yesha Council's history of choosing public relations over effective action. "Our struggle will be active and not passive," an Amona spokesman told Arutz-7. "There will be no hugs or love for those who come to destroy our homes. We plan on lying down in front of the bulldozers and blocking the roads – the response in Sde Boaz will be our model. In the inner circle we will entrench ourselves inside the houses."
The Civil Lands Administration, which ordered the destruction of an illegal home in Gush Etzion Wednesday, has issued 7,380 similar orders against Arab homes in Judea and Samaria, but they have not been executed.
The courts have approved the orders to tear down the buildings, and The Council of Jewish Communities in Judea and Samaria (Yesha) this week charged the government with bias against Jewish residents.
Orders to dismantle hundreds of other illegal houses in the Negev also have not been carried out. Bedouins in the Negev have built thousands of illegal metal shacks on land that they have taken over during the past two decades. The government calls them "unrecognized villages," and the police have carried out orders to destroy a small percentage of the buildings.
Investigative journalist David Bedein wrote that the only thing the government fears enough to back down from destroying Jewish neighborhoods is Arab violence. Bedein suggested that if the security establishment saw a serious threat of Jews responding to the destruction of unauthorized outposts by marching on the thousands of unauthorized buildings built in the southern Jerusalem neighborhood of Beit Safafa, demanding equal enforcement of the law.
Published: 11:01 January 13, 2006 Last Update: 11:15 January 13, 2006
Articles on Israel can also be found by clicking on the Topic or Keyword Israel.
..................
Three down, 7,380 to go.
Gov´t Holding 7,380 Orders to Destroy Illegal Arab Buildings
IsraelNN.com) The Civil Lands Administration, which ordered the destruction of an illegal home in Gush Etzion Wednesday, has issued 7,380 similar orders against Arab homes in Judea and Samaria, but they have not been executed. The courts have approved the orders to tear down the buildings, and The Council of Jewish Communities in Judea and Samaria (Yesha) this week charged the government with bias against Jewish residents. Orders to dismantle hundreds of other illegal houses in the Negev also have not been carried out. Bedouins in the Negev have built thousands of illegal metal shacks on land that they have taken over during the past two decades. The government calls them "unrecognized villages," and the police have carried out orders to destroy a small percentage of the buildings.
"Yesha Council spokeswoman Emily Amrusi told Arutz-7 that such claims are outrageous, "Coming from the same people who claim we 'sold out' Gush Katif, they do not even merit a serious reply.""
Thats because you DID sell out Gush Katif, you bat. This is your way of never having to address that.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.