8 May, 1996

State Continues to Defy Court Order and Evict Jahalin

In the continuation of an already dramatic case, the State Attorney in open defiance of an Israeli High Court order, permitted Israeli contractors to begin enclosing the Jahalin Bedouin encampments with fences in order to expand the illegal Jewish settlement of Ma'aleh Adumim. The building of these fences is in direct contradiction to an earlier order by the Israeli high court, which forbade construction activity within a 100 meter radius of the Jahalin camps until the resolution of the petition submitted against the original confiscation of this land in 1981.

The story goes as follows:

In 1981, the land on which the Jahalin live was confiscated as state land and used to build the settlement of Ma'aleh Adumim. In 1993 the Israeli government issued eviction orders against the Jahalin. In May 1995, attorneys for the Society of St. Yves representing the Jahalin submitted a high court petition stating that the land on which the Jahalin live was not included in the original confiscation order, and therefore the tribe should remain on its original lands. In addition, the petition demanded the minutes and evidence from the original confiscation order in 1981 which would prove that the Jahalin land had not been included in the original confiscation. The court issued a temporary order at this time forbidding the eviction of the Jahalin until a final decision was made. In October, the hearing for the petition was held, during which the state attorney stated that all evidence and the minutes had been destroyed, and therefore no proof remained. No decision was taken at this time. The temporary order prohibiting the eviction of the Jahalin remained in effect.

Thus began a period of intense construction to expand the settlement up to and surrounding Jahalin encampments, creating an unbearable and hazardous living situation. On December 1, the Society of St. Yves submitted a request for the court to issue a second temporary order halting constructing within a 100 meter radius of the Jahalin encampment, since the activity itself effectively constituted an eviction. The high court issued the order, and also that current construction sites had to be fenced in to protect the Jahalin population from their deep pits and construction waste. From this point forward, the Jahalin faced a constant battle with contractors, who tried to get around the orders and continue construction to meet their own deadlines. Some contractors even tried bribing the Jahalin to violate the court's orders.

In March, the Israeli government petitioned the court to narrow the order restricting construction, since the illegal settlement was expanding at a rapid pace, the apartments were due to be completed by this spring, and the government wanted to avoid financial damages created by this delay in construction. In essence, the Israeli government intervened on the behalf of private contractors to force construction on stolen lands about which a High Court ruling was still pending. No decision was issued at this time.

Today 8 May, the State Attorney informed the contractors that they could begin building within the 100 meter radius. The contractors then began building the fences around the Jahalin encampments, effectively enclosing them within prisons of heavy construction and machinery noise.

The Society of St. Yves is standing by to request contempt of court orders against the State Attorney and the contractors for violating the High Court temporary order.

We urge you to write immediately your letters of protest, demanding a halt to all construction activity and an end to the aggression against the Jahalin. Please fax the Minister of Justice David Liba'i: (972) (2) 285438.

Land and Water Establishment is a Palestinian, human rights, non-governmental organization, which seeks to defend human rights through legal advocacy. LAWE is also an affiliate member of the Paris based International Federation for Human Rights.